A unique object is moving towards our solar system. The object called 2014 UN271 (data record launched in 2014) appeared in the dark collaboration of the dark energy survey on June 19, 2021 and gains popularity thanks to its strange extreme. The information on this object appeared in the minor planet electronics, which usually includes “information on unusual minor planets and routine data on comets”.
As indicated by Sam Deen on a group.io post, the spotted object is “not only unusual, but radically exceptional among all known bodies of the solar system so far.” The orbit of this object goes from “just beyond the orbit of Saturn throughout the cloud of Oort.”
Dr. Pedro Bernardineli released some additional details on Twitter on the discovery of this object. It may seem strange that the data presented in the documentation of this object appear in 2014, but this was announced only in 2021.
Below you will find a simulation of Tony Dunn showing the orbit of this space body, entering and coming out of our solar system – note the dates! It will become really strange to the year 2030 – and really close to us here on earth!
As stated by Meg Schwambam, Planetary Scientist and Astronomer of Queen’s University Belfast, Rubin Observatory will monitor 2014 UN271 as part of a 10-year survey, monitor the object “all the way to the peripheon” and beyond. This is the point where the object is closest to the sun, which the physicist and radio astronomer VLBI T. Marshall Eubaks suggested will take place on January 28, 2031. The 10-year investigation will begin around “late 2023.”
Schwambam also noted that this spatial object is about 6.96% of the size of Pluto. This means that it is not big enough to be a dwarf planet – but it’s still not tiny rock to make fun!
And, made fun: if we glance at the specifications of Canonical Star Wars with regard to the books like Star Wars: Incredorable transverse sections, we see that the first star of death had about 120 km in diameter and the diameter and the diameter Second star of death was about 160 km in diameter. Indeed, the estimated size of 2014 UN271 is the same as the star of death as in the episode of Star Wars VI: return of the Jedi.
You can see the first documented movements of this object at the international center of the planet of the astronomical union. We will look at this one because it is always closer to our planet and deeper into our solar system over the next decade!