Space & Astronomy

Possible new dwarf planet discovered beyond the orbit of Pluto

By T.K. Randall
October 30, 2026

Image: Solar System
Credit: Harman Smith, Laura Generosa, NASA/JPL / (PD) Discovered by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, this mysterious object - dubbed 2026 ED138 - could be one of the largest dwarf planets ever found in the outer solar system.

It was spotted by Rubin Operations team member Matthew Holman during an analysis of data collected by the observatory to look for detections of objects that are moving in space.

This particular example stood out to him due to how large and bright it was.

"My first reaction was one of excited disbelief," he said. "Objects like this are very rare, so I immediately started checking whether I or the code had done something wrong."ED138 is currently 46 AU from the Earth (with 1 AU being the distance from the Earth to the Sun).

It has a tilted orbit, suggesting that its original orbit may have been disrupted by the gravitational pull of Neptune - the most distant gas giant in our solar system.

"If confirmed as a dwarf planet, ED138 would join a very small family of worlds," said Holman.

"Rubin will image the whole southern sky again and again for ten years, so any others hiding in the places earlier surveys skipped are now within reach."

Source: Sky at Night Magazine

Tags: