2026 ED138 orbital arc (with annotations)
Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA Acknowledgement: Image Processing: M. Jurić (UW), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab), CC BY 4.0
This image shows the orbital pathway of newly discovered dwarf planet candidate 2026 ED138 (ED138), as observed by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. This image is a composite of multiple images captured by Rubin between 4 March and 11 July 2026 at intervals indicated by the teal circles. ED138 is visible at the center of each circle. ED138 was found by Rubin Operations team member and in-Kind contributor Matthew Holman (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), who 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. See a version of this image without annotations here. See a close-up of ED138’s orbit during the month of May here.
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