Planetary scientist Michael Brown from CalTech has measure out the denseness of a wandering body in theKuiper Beltthat is over 400 miles ( 650 kilometer ) widely - and he found that it has a lower density of than water . This is the large rock candy discovered in the solar system which would be capable of floating . Brown publish the final result inThe Astrophysical Journal Letters , which appeared online this calendar week .
The body is known as2002 UX25and may shake up current theories about how planetal body are form , as it is the first mid - sized body measure for density . Traditionally , it has been believe that planetary body were formed by spot of rubble whipping around the sun in its infancy . finally , the dust particles slammed into one another to form larger rocks . It has been recollect that all of the jumpy planets formed this way , along with all of the planetary body in the Kuiper Belt at the border of the solar organisation .
However , if that framework was exclusively right then all of the bodies in the Kuiper Belt should have approximately the same density . In fact , small physical structure are reported to be less dense than water . This was thought to have been reconciled by the musical theme that the large rocks have a groovy gravitative pull and bring the junk in nigher and tighter . Since 2002 UX25 is mid - sized and has a density more similar to a pocket-size body alternatively of one midway between the belittled and turgid as would be require , there might be something else going on .
Because 2002 UX25 only has a density of about 0.8 grams per three-dimensional centimeter , it is take that it contains a great good deal of sparkler . This allowedother planetary scientiststo propose a young theory of erratic formation : the solar system was made from the exterior in . As the dust flew around creating small rocks , it take in a mass of shabu . Larger rock and roll that had been hit many times had some of the meth knocked out of them , creating a more dense , larger rock . The big of the proto - satellite were drawn inwards toward the sun , while the icy remnants remained out at the Kuiper Belt .
It ’s an interesting thought , but several other 2002 UX25 - sized global bodies will need to be measure before stiff assertions of a young theory for organisation can be made .
