2007 OR10 is the Largest Unnamed World in the Solar System
Posted on May 17, 2016
2007 OR10 is the largest unnamed world in the solar system. NASA says new data from the Kepler space telescope indicates 2007 OR10 as the largest unnamed body in our solar system. It is the third largest of the current roster of about half a dozen dwarf planets.
The astronomers are not including the unnamed Planet 9, which is estimated to be Neptune-sized if it is confirmed to exist. 2007 OR10 was found to be significantly larger than previously thought when a group of astronomers combined data from two space observations. The study also found that the object is quite dark and rotating more slowly than almost any other body orbiting our sun.
2007 OR10 is estimated to have a diameter of 955 miles (1,535 kilmoeters). This makes it about 60 miles larger in diameter than Makemake and about 1/3 smaller than Pluto.
Geert Barentsen, Kepler/K2 research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, says in a statement, "K2 has made yet another important contribution in revising the size estimate of 2007 OR10. But what's really powerful is how combining K2 and Herschel data yields such a wealth of information about the object's physical properties."
Image: Konkoly Observatory/András Pál, Hungarian Astronomical Association/Iván Éder, NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI