An international team of astronomers has used ESO telescopes to investigate a relic of the primordial solar system. The team found that the unusual Kuiper Belt Object 2004 EW95 is a carbon-rich asteroid, which likely formed in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and has been flung billions of kilometers from its origin to its current home in the Kuiper Belt. This object is the first of its kind to be confirmed in the cold outer reaches of the solar system.
Members of the EarthSky community - including scientists, as well as science and nature writers from across the globe - weigh in on what's important to them. Photo by Robert Spurlock.