Overview

• The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center officially recognized 2017 OF201 as a new minor planet on May 21, 2025.
• Estimated to be 470–820 kilometers in diameter, the object may qualify as a dwarf planet, placing it in the same category as Pluto.
• 2017 OF201’s orbit stretches from 45 AU to an extraordinary 1,629 AU, taking approximately 25,000 years to complete a single orbit.
• Its discovery, using archival telescope data and advanced algorithms, implies the possible existence of hundreds of similar undetected objects in the outer solar system.
• The object’s atypical orbit deviates from patterns used to support the Planet Nine hypothesis, potentially challenging the theory of a hidden massive planet.