Astronomers have recorded an upcoming minor planet closest to the Sun in an orbit spanning more than 600,000 years.
The object with the number 2014 UN271 was recently discovered from data from the Dark Matter Survey program collected between 2014 and 2018. It has an estimated size of 100 to 370 km. If it is a comet, especially for an object coming from the periphery of the solar system.
“2014 UN271 is about as big as giant comet Sarabat aka C / 1729 P1, the largest object ever found in the Oort Cloud, which can almost be classified as a dwarf planet,” said the amateur astronomer Sam Deen Literature.
The most special thing about 2014 UN271 is that its orbit around the Sun is extremely unusual. The object moves between the ring of the solar system and the Oort cloud, traversing interstellar space every 612,190 years.
Astronomers are about to witness the closest approach to the Sun by UN271. Currently, the object is about 22 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. One AU is equal to the distance between the Sun and the Earth (149,597,870.7 km). This means that it is closer to the Sun than Neptune (29.7 AU). 2014 UN271 has crossed a distance of 7 AU in the past 7 years and will come closest to the star in 2031, at a distance of 10.9 AU, close to the orbit of Saturn. Before that, it will form a trailing comet tail as the frozen matter on the surface evaporates under the heat of the Sun.
Deen estimates that 2014 UN271 will be as bright as Pluto in the night sky. After passing the Sun, it will continue its journey towards the Oort cloud and gradually reach a distance of 60,000 AU.
