A powerful new telescope has discovered a dwarf planet candidate beyond Pluto — and scientists say it could be among the largest of its kind ever found in the reaches of our solar system.
The discovery, announced Oct. 27, was made using observations from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a newly operational facility located on a mountaintop in Chile.
The observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, began its 10-year survey of the sky in June 2026, using the world’s largest digital camera to search for previously unseen objects.
TREASURE HUNTER STRIKES GOLD WITH 1,000-YEAR-OLD DISCOVERY LINKED TO ‘HAND OF GOD’
Researchers identified the object as 2026 ED138. They estimated it measures between 370 and 930 miles across.
“If confirmed, ED138 would be among the largest dwarf planets ever discovered in this region of the Solar System,” the observatory said in a statement.
On Oct. 13, astronomer Matthew Holman was using computer software he developed with colleague Kevin Napier to search through telescope data collected earlier this year when he spotted the object.
“Using this method, Holman uncovered ED138, and he immediately noticed that its brightness and distance indicated that it is unusually large,” the observatory said.
PUZZLING SOUND IN BACKYARD LEADS HOMEOWNER TO MASSIVE 1,000-YEAR-OLD TREASURE
In a statement, Holman described his reaction as “one of excited disbelief.”
He added, “Objects like this are very rare, so I immediately started checking whether I or the code had done something wrong.”
ED138 is currently located about 4.3 billion miles from the sun, farther away than Pluto, which orbits the sun at an average distance of about 3.7 billion miles.
Scientists classify ED138 as a trans-Neptunian object, meaning it orbits the sun beyond Neptune, the farthest planet in our solar system.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
As for why the object had not been discovered sooner, officials said it was hiding in a crowded region of the sky near the Milky Way, where millions of stars made it difficult for earlier telescopes to detect.
“Rubin Observatory’s regular and continuous monitoring of the entire Southern Hemisphere sky, combined with powerful algorithms that sift through millions to billions of points of light to identify those corresponding to small moving objects, enabled the team to spot ED138 within the crowded field,” the statement added.
Looking ahead, scientists hope to conduct further observations of ED138 to determine its exact size and whether it qualifies as a dwarf planet.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS
“If confirmed as a dwarf planet, ED138 would join a very small family of worlds,” Holman said in a statement.
“Rubin will image the whole southern sky again and again for 10 years, so any others hiding in the places earlier surveys skipped are now within reach.”
A dwarf planet is a celestial body that orbits the sun and is large enough to be nearly round; yet unlike a full-sized planet, it shares its orbital region with other objects it has not gravitationally cleared away.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
Pluto was considered the ninth planet in our solar system after its discovery in 1930, but was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.
The newly identified dwarf planet candidate is among several recent discoveries shedding light on the mysteries of our solar system.
Earlier this year, scientists revealed that a meteorite that crashed through the roof of a New Jersey home in 2024 contained some of the chemical building blocks of life and was among the rarest space rocks ever recovered.
At the time, researchers said the meteorite contained material dating back more than 4.5 billion years.