Our solar system has a newly discovered dwarf planet. 2014 UZ224, known as “DeeDee” (short for “distant dwarf”), joins the ranks of the five other known dwarf plants—Pluto, Makemake, Haumea, Eris, and Ceres. Dwarf planets are bigger than asteroids but smaller than planets.
DeeDee orbits the sun 8.5 billion miles away. Researchers found DeeDee using a powerful telescope in South America. “The telescope could see a single candle in space between Earth and the moon,” says David Gerdes. He led the team in Michigan that discovered DeeDee. Gerdes suspects the list of dwarf planets will grow—there may be dozens more waiting to be discovered.