This artist’s impression shows the exiled asteroid 2004 EW95, the first carbon-rich asteroid confirmed to exist in the Kuiper Belt and a relic of the primordial 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.

An asteroid found  in  the  Kuiper  Belt  after  multiple  observing  campaigns,  Kuiper  belt  object  (120216)  2004  EW95 is  confirmed  to  most  likely  be  a  C-type  asteroid,  potentially  validating  dynamical  models  of  early  Solar  System  evolution.

A new  report  using  multiple  independent  photometric  and  spectroscopic  observations  of  Kuiper  belt  object  (120216)  2004  EW95has  discovered  a  potential  asteroid  residing  in  the  Kuiper  belt.  The  UV-optical  spectrum  of2004  EW95is  found  to  resemble  that  of  a  hydrated  C-type  asteroid,  with  the  confident  detection  of  phyllosilicates  and  a  drop  off  in  the  UV  spectrum.  The  orbital  characteristics  of  2004  EW95  would  also  suggest  it  was  emplaced  by  a  past  instability.  Indeed,  models  of  the  early  sculpting  of  our  Solar  System  predict  the  ejection  of  primitive  asteroids  with  the  potential  later  capture  of some  into  the  Kuiper  belt.  These  new  results  may  provide  the  first  steps  to  validating  such  predictions. READ MORE »