Astronomers have found a new minor planet at the distance of 3.2 billion km from Earth. However, some of astronomers are of opinion that it is a comet. The planet termed as 2006 SQ372 is 96 km wide is slightly closer to the Earth than the planet Neptune. Its orbit period to the Sun is 22,500-year. Astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey told that it travels 241-billion-km around the Sun.

 

However, Andrew Becker, the leading researcher from the University of Washington said that interestingly, contrary to Earth and Mars which travel around the Sun in circular orbits, the new planet/comet has elliptical orbit which is identical with a comet. Researchers associate it with Sedna, a dwarf planet found in 2003 which has similar characteristics.

 

Another researcher Nathan Kaib opined that the new minor planet could have come from the Oort Cloud which is a distant reservoir of icy bodies that scientists believe is the birthplace of many asteroids. Also, according to him it may have formed like Pluto, in the belt of icy debris beyond Neptune, then been kicked a large distance by a gravitational encounter with Neptune or Uranus.