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Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: New "Minor Planet" Found in Solar System


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A white arrow points to a faint object detected by chance in 2006 as astronomers scanned the skies for distant supernovae.

The object, which resembles a tailless comet, traces a long, elliptical orbit that takes it as much as 150 billion miles (241 billion kilometers) from Earth, astronomers announced in August 2008.

Image courtesy A. Becker and the SDSS