Dwarf Planet Candidate ED138 & "Five Solar System Dwarf Planets" | NOIRLab
An animation of the Solar System showing the orbital pathway of newly discovered dwarf planet candidate 2026 ED138 (ED138). ED138 was discovered in observational data from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory spanning March 4-July 11, 2026. The rendering begins on May 8, 2026. The time then elapses at a rate of one Earth-year per 30 seconds. The model also shows the orbits of the five dwarf planets recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU): Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake.
ED138 was found by Rubin Operations team member and in-Kind contributor Matthew Holman (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian). He contributes to improving Rubin's algorithms that search for distant moving objects in our Solar System. Its distance from the Sun places it beyond the orbit of Pluto, and initial analysis indicates that it may be among the largest and brightest bodies scientists have discovered in this region of the Solar System.
Rubin Observatory is jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
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