This is an artist's impression of the icy Kuiper belt object 2002 LM60, dubbed "Quaoar" by its discoverers.
Click on image for full size
Courtesy of NASA and G. Bacon
An Icy New Planet?
News story originally written on October 9, 2002
Scientists have found something new in the solar system! They found a far-away object far beyond Pluto by looking with the Hubble Space Telescope.
The scientists call their discovery Quaoar. It is 4 billion miles from Earth and is the furthest object in the solar system to ever to be seen with a telescope. Like Pluto, Quaoar is in the Kuiper Belt, an icy bunch of rubble beyond Neptune. Quaoar is about half the size of Pluto and its orbit around the Sun is nearly a circle.
Last modified October 9, 2002 by Lisa Gardiner.
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