Free Astronomy Magazine July-August 2018

48 JULY-AUGUST 2018 SPACE CHRONICLES Exiled asteroid discovered in outer reaches of Solar System by ESO T he early days of our Solar Sys- tem were a tempestuous time. Theoretical models of this pe- riod predict that after the gas giants formed they rampaged through the Solar System, ejecting small rocky bodies from the inner Solar System to far-flung orbits at great distances from the Sun. In particular, these models suggest that the Kuiper Belt — a cold region beyond the orbit of T his artist’s impression shows the exiled asteroid 2004 EW 95 , the first carbon- rich asteroid confirmed to exist in the Kuiper Belt and a relic of the primor- dial Solar System. This curious object likely formed in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and must have been transported billions of kilometres from its origin to its current home in the Kuiper Belt. [ESO/M. Kornmesser]