A team of scientists has unveiled the existence of a dwarf planet candidate named 2017 OF201 by analyzing data from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS). They developed an algorithm that combed through the DECaLS database, identifying faint objects in the solar system that had eluded previous detection. OF201 is estimated to be about 700 kilometers in diameter and follows an orbit that takes it close to Pluto and then far beyond 1,600 AU. The researchers, affiliated with Princeton University and Canada's Perimeter Institute, also aim to explore connections to the hypothetical Planet 9.
The authors utilized an algorithm to search the DECaLS database, revealing evidence of a dwarf planet candidate that had gone unnoticed in previous research.
OF201's orbit brings it close to Pluto at approximately 45 Astronomical Units, then extends out beyond 1,600 AU over a 25,000-year journey around the Sun.
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