Massive Rock Is Found Far Out in Solar System
Astronomers have found what may be the largest object in the far reaches of the solar system, a ball of rock dubbed 2001 KX76 that is an estimated 788 miles in diameter. Pluto’s moon Charon, in comparison, has a diameter of 744 miles. 2001 KX76 resides in the Kuiper Belt, which extends almost 2 billion miles beyond the orbit of Neptune. Astronomers think that at least 70,000 objects with diameters larger than 100 kilometers (62 miles) exist in the belt. The discovery was reported last week by a team from the Lowell Observatory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Chile’s Large Binocular Telescope Observatory.
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Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II
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