{"id":24686,"date":"2025-07-20T22:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T22:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/24686\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T22:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T22:13:10","slug":"ammonite-rare-fossil-like-object-found-on-the-edge-of-the-solar-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/24686\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ammonite&#8217; rare fossil-like object found on the edge of the Solar System"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Get the key points on this story in our 1-minute read.<\/p>\n<p>Meet &#8216;Ammonite&#8217;: A newly discovered sednoid \u2013 an icy, distant Solar System object nicknamed after its spiral fossil\u2011like orbit \u2013 officially called 2023\u202fKQ14<br \/>\nOnly the fourth known of its kind: Sednoids are extremely rare. Ammonite joins Sedna, 2012\u202fVP113 and Lele\u0101k\u016bhonua in this exclusive group<br \/>\nExceptionally elongated orbit: It swings from ~66\u202fAU (perihelion) to ~252\u202fAU (aphelion) from the Sun, far beyond Neptune<br \/>\nMid-sized cosmic object: Estimated diameter is between 220\u2013380\u202fkm, similar to about 40 times the height of Mount Everest<br \/>\n4.5-billion-year time capsule: Orbital simulations show it\u2019s been stable since shortly after the Solar System formed<br \/>\nQuestions Planet Nine theory: Unlike other sednoids, its orbit is anti-aligned, reducing the argument for a distant Planet Nine shaping their paths<br \/>\nHints at early Solar System chaos: The orbital mismatch may point to events like a rogue star passage or vanished planet stirring things up  about 4.2 billion years ago<br \/>\nFOSSIL project success: Unearthed by the multi-national FOSSIL survey using the Subaru Telescope, plus archival data dating back to 2005, showing how wide\u2011field searches continue revealing ancient Solar System relics<\/p>\n<p><img width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2023-KQ14-ammonite-artist-impression.jpg\" alt=\"Artist\u2019s illustration of the distant Solar System object nicknamed 'Ammonite', designated 2023 KQ14.Credit: AI-generated illustration by Ying-Tung Chen (ASIAA)\" class=\"wp-image-173424\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/>Credit: AI-generated illustration by Ying-Tung Chen (ASIAA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get the key points on this story in our 1-minute read. Meet &#8216;Ammonite&#8217;: A newly discovered sednoid \u2013&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[79,193],"class_list":["post-24686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}