Distant object found orbiting Sun backwards

I have always suspected that there would be objects with this kind of irregular orbit. Now it appears we have found one. I wonder how many more there could be?

An object in the icy Kuiper belt has been found orbiting the Sun backwards, compared to most other objects in the solar system. It may help explain the origin of an enigmatic family of comets typified by Comet Halley.
The new object, called 2008 KV42, lies in the Kuiper belt, a ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune. Its orbit is inclined 103.5° to the plane of the Earth's orbit, or ecliptic. That means that as it orbits the Sun, it actually travels in the opposite direction to the planets.

If its orbit is roughly 90° to our planets, I cannot see how it is considered a K.Belt object though. It seems to 'pass through' the area twice each orbit.

I am sorry I dont know how to put the pic or video into the thread, so f some helpful member could oblige I would be grateful.

EDIT: Oops, Almost forgot the link

[edit on 8/9/2008 by VIKINGANT]

Maybe it just wants to be different?

Seriously, I don't know.. why do things have to orbit a certain direction?

VIKINGANT I have u2u you with instructions to get your picture up

reply to post by VIKINGANT


Star, great find! Science is getting better and better at locating such anomalies.

Thanks AS





Any advice on the vid?
Ant

[edit: video code]

[edit on 8-9-2008 by 12m8keall2c]

Great find VIKINGANT That is one crazy orbit dont you think?
I think it is critical that we find these things more often

Thats what I was thinking.
It seems to be pretty set in its current orbit, but...

A gravitational disturbance likely kicked 2008 KV42 out of the inner Oort cloud and to its present orbit. And Gladman says it might one day be pushed out of that orbit and into one that brings it closer to the Sun, making it a possible "transition object" on its way to becoming a Halley-type comet.

If this think is 50km in diamiter like they say, and it finds its way towards the sun we could be in trouble. Now that is a long shot, but as I said earlier, how many more might there be? We have only bee focusing on the K.Belt and the standard orbits of asteroids, and even then we have only spotted a small percentage of them.

Very cool post

I have a theory we are going to find bodies in orbit as far as possible and then other objects that broke loose between the stars too...

every one of these finds excites me because I am certain space is far less empty than we percieve it to be

This was a great find. surely there are more out there like this. look forward to hearing more about them!