List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun in 2015

Positions of known outer Solar System objects.

Sun   Jupiter trojans (6,178)   Scattered disc (>300)

Giant planets: J · S · U · N   Centaurs (44,000)   Kuiper belt (>1,000)

(scale in AU; epoch as of January 2015; # of objects in parenthesis)

The orbit of Sedna, shown in red, with the dot marking its current location. Inside are the orbits of the giant planets of the Solar System, and that of Pluto in purple. Sedna will travel out nearly 1000 AU, taking almost six millennia to do so. It is currently less than 100 AU from the Sun.

One of the Sun's "wild things", a distant trans-Neptunian object wrapping itself around the planets on slanted orbit. Shown highlighted here is the orbit of 2004 XR190

Eris and its moon as viewed with Hubble, 2007

Makemake viewed with Hubble, 2006

Sedna viewed with Hubble Space Telescope, 2004

This observation of Halley's Comet in 2003 at 28 AU from the Sun illustrates some of the difficulty in observing objects as they grow more distant.

Graph showing the numbers of KBOs for a given distance from the Sun. The plutinos are the "spike" at 39 AU, whereas the classicals are between 42 and 47 AU, the twotinos are at 48 AU, and the 5:2 resonance is at 55 AU. Note this lists semi-major axis distances, not current distance from the Sun (see Kuiper cliff)

These Solar System objects were the furthest away from the Sun as of December 2015. The objects have been categorized by their approximate heliocentric distance from the Sun, not by the greatest calculated aphelion in their orbit.

This list does not mention objects that were discovered, but not announced, by 2015. An example would be 2015 TH367, which was discovered in October 2015 but not announced until 2018.

The list changes over time because the objects are moving. Some objects are inbound and some are outbound. It would be difficult to detect long-distance comets if it weren't for their comas, which become visible when heated by the Sun.

Distances are measured in astronomical units (AU, Sun–Earth distances). The distances are not the minimum (perihelion) or the maximum (aphelion) that may be achieved by these objects in the future.

List

1. ^↑Discovered in 2014, announced in 2016
2. ^↑Discovered in 2013, announced in 2016

Notable objects

The discovery of an object known as V774104 was announced in November 2015 and was heralded by many news outlets as "the most distant Solar System object", surpassing Eris by close to 7 AU (not counting space probes and long-period comets). There is some confusion regarding its distance as of 2018, as V774104 might now be suspected of being closer than Eris,^[5] but this is due to a misunderstanding (which arose because Scott Sheppard was referring to an unannounced Sednoid).^[6]

Another very distant body is Sedna, which was discovered in November 2003. Although it takes over 10,000 years to orbit, during the next 60 years it will slowly move closer to the Sun as it comes to perihelion.^[7]

See Also

• List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun in 2018
• List of Solar System objects by greatest aphelion
• List of hyperbolic comets
• Pluto (30–49 AU, about 34 AU in 2015)
• List of trans-Neptunian objects

Objects with very large aphelion

• 2012 DR30 (14–2049 AU, came to 14.5 AU in 2011)
• 2005 VX3 (4–2049 AU)
• 2013 BL76 (8–1920 AU)

References