Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » The most distant object in our solar system is temporarily titled FARFAROUT. It is 132 Astronomincal Units (Au) from the Sun. WHAT?
RosieG

The most distant object in our solar system is temporarily titled FARFAROUT. It is 132 Astronomincal Units (Au) from the Sun. WHAT?

Astronomical Unit
 Equal to the average or mean distance between the earth and the sun or
92,955,807.3 miles 

It is 250 miles across
Its averrage orbital distance is 101 Astronimical Units
Besides being called FARFAROUT its designation is 2018AG37...final name is still pending

This is important to know because?

Posted - February 12, 2021
Tags : None

Responses


  • 10637
    To be fair, the name "Farout" was already taken by 2018VG18.  (wait until they find Farfarfarout)

    To see an object roughly the size of the state of Maryland that far away is rather cool.  I mean, I rather doubt they could see an object that small orbiting an exoplanet.  I believe there are a lot of things out there that are still in this solar system that we haven't begun to see yet.  Perhaps in the Oort cloud (beyond the Kuiper Belt).
      February 12, 2021 10:43 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Thank you for the reference to Oort cloud and Kuiper Belt  Shuhak. Not ever having heard of them I will GOOGLE both as soon as I post this. I was struck by the simplicity of the designation. Something a child might call it but scientists? Also isn't there a cartoon strip with FAR in the name? It seems vaguely familiar but I can't place it. Ever had a telescope Shuhak? I never have but I think it would be a nifty "toy". Thank you for your reply! :)
      February 13, 2021 3:51 AM MST
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  • 10637
    You may be thinking of "The Far Side".

    No.  I borrowed my BIL's once; I wasn't impressed (didn't have much magnification).
      February 13, 2021 9:47 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Maybe that's it! The Far Side. Thank you for your reply Shuhak! :)
      February 13, 2021 10:37 AM MST
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  • 44608
    It is important to those curious enough to attempt to find such things. An amateur astronomer, Terry Lovejoy has discovered 5 comets. His payback are bragging rights and 5 comets named after him.
      February 12, 2021 11:26 AM MST
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  • 113301
    FIVE comets carry his name? FIVE? Goodness me how often do they fly by? I expect any time anyone discovers anything new it's gotta be very exciting. Thank you for your reply E and Happy Saturday to thee and thine! :)
      February 13, 2021 3:54 AM MST
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  • 3719
    They are not important in a practical, everyday sense, no; but we are an inquisitive species, and research like that is as important and enriching to us culturally, aesthetically, philosophically and intellectually as for example, great works of art.  

    Naming astronomical objects is not easy. There are fine points of etiquette involved, but there are also so many things out there that names are best left for really significant things. Even galaxies are normally just numbered, but some have names as well; rather like the nick-names given to some orchestral music formally listed as things like Blogg's Violin Concerto in A Minor, K123.

    So astronomers prefer formal designations as an international cataloguing system for their serious work, but they also have a normal sense of wonder and romance  - otherwise they might not have become astronomers.

    I  think I've recounted the story I was told of a Canadian radio-astronomer who visited a rural area of England one Winter.  Always a town girl anyway, her observatory was close to a city beset by fog and light-pollution, which doesn't affect radio-telescopes that can even be used in ordinary daylight hours.  One night here though, her hosts told me, she saw the Milky Way with her own eyes for the first time, and it so moved her she burst into tears.  
      February 13, 2021 12:56 PM MST
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