Strange new object found at edge of Solar System
`A large object has been found beyond Pluto travelling in an orbit tilted by 47 degrees to most other bodies in the solar system. Astronomers are at a loss to explain why the object’s orbit is so off-kilter while being almost circular.
[..] at 47 degrees, 2004 XR190’s orbit is one of the most tilted, or inclined, Kuiper Belt Objects known. That suggests it was flung out of the solar system’s main disc after a close encounter with another object – such as Neptune or perhaps a star that passed by the Sun billions of years ago. [..]
These traits make the object, nicknamed “Buffy” after the US television series about a vampire slayer, hard to explain. “Maybe Buffy is going to be a bit of a theory slayer,” Allen told New Scientist.’
