Astronomers have discovered what could be a new dwarf planet in our Solar System, just beyond Pluto.
It has been named 2026 ED138. It was spotted about 6.9 billion kilometres away, which is roughly 46 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, which has the world’s largest camera, photographed that part of space between 4 March and 11 July 2026. Astronomers studied the images over several months and tracked the object’s path.
The discovery was announced at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington.
What is a dwarf planet?
A dwarf planet is an object in space that does most of the things a planet does but doesn’t tick every box. Usually that’s because it’s too small.
There are five confirmed dwarf planets in our Solar System: Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake. If other scientists confirm the find, 2026 ED138 will become the sixth.
Pluto used to be called a planet, but in 2006 it was changed to a dwarf planet because it is much smaller than the others. NASA boss Jared Isaacman has said NASA will look at whether Pluto could be a planet again.
A spokesperson for Stanford University said the new object “could be among the largest and brightest dwarf planets ever found in this part of our Solar System.”
The spokesperson said studying dwarf planets gives scientists clues about how our Solar System formed more than four billion years ago.
SMART Prep | Quick Question 
