Scientists detect ring of mysterious objects at the edge of the solar system

Researchers have used the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii to peer out to edge of the Solar System known as the Kuiper Belt to discover any objects. 11 objects were discovered, and they appear to be orbiting in a "ring".

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The two stories (here) and (here) are set to be published in the Planetary Science Journal and detail evidence for a cluster of objects just outside of the Kuiper Belt, which is approximately 40 to 50 astronomical units (AU), or the distance between Earth and the Sun, away from our planet.

As for the objects, researchers discovered 11 of them at a distance of between 70 to 90 AU, and if they are confirmed, it could have big implications for our understanding of the evolution of the Kuiper Belt and, by extension, our own Solar System.

If the existence of these objects is confirmed, it would suggest that the Kuiper Belt was once much larger than previously estimated, which could influence the study of planet formation in our Solar System. Moreover, it would change the models of the early solar system to account for its newfound size.

"If this is confirmed, it would be a major discovery. The primordial solar nebula was much larger than previously thought, and this may have implications for studying the planet formation process in our Solar System," said Fumi Yoshida, a planetary scientist from Japan's University of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences and co-author of one of the studies

"Our Solar System's Kuiper Belt long appeared to be very small in comparison with many other planetary systems, but our results suggest that idea might just have arisen due to an observational bias. So maybe, if this result is confirmed, our Kuiper Belt isn't all that small and unusual after all compared to those around other stars," said Wes Fraser, a co-investigator on the New Horizons mission and lead author of one of the studies, in the statement