Who is 'Ammonite?' Meet the 4th known sednoid
Scientists just spotted a distant, icy object called 2023 KQ14—nicknamed "Ammonite"—hanging out at the edge of our Solar System.
Detected with the Subaru Telescope in 2024, it's only the fourth known sednoid (a rare type of space rock with a wild orbit) and measures somewhere between 300 and 700km across.
Ammonite's orbit fills a gap in our understanding of these objects
Ammonite's orbit is pretty unusual—it travels between 66 and 252 times farther from the Sun than Earth does.
This actually fills a mysterious gap scientists had noticed in where these far-off objects tend to be found.
Dr. Yukun Huang says these strange orbits might even hint that our Solar System once lost a planet!
Ammonite is a time capsule from over 4 billion years ago
Even though you won't spot Ammonite with backyard gear, it's like a time capsule from over four billion years ago.
Studying it could help us figure out how our Solar System—and its most distant worlds—came to be.
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