Astronomers have spotted a new dwarf planet, named 2012 VP113, orbiting at the edge of the solar system, far beyond Pluto, which they have nicknamed Biden, after US Vice President (VP) Joe Biden.
Scientists have struggle to find any major discoveries in this region of the solar system since the identification of the dwarf planet Sedna a decade ago due to the darkness because of the distance from the sun. However, this discovery of a 450km diameter pinkish ball of ice, that takes around 4,000 Earth years to orbit the sun, is a sign that much more may be out there.
Moreover, the orbits of Biden, Sedna, and some other bodies at the edge of the Kuiper belt have a strange similarity in their orbits, which could mean that a planet around ten times the size of earth could be out there in the darkness, according astronomer Chad Trujillo as quoted by NPR.
The astronomers discuss their findings in a letter published in the journal Nature.
