Science News covers the Rubin discovery and amateur follow-up
Science News reports on the astronomy meeting where the discovery was discussed and explores the prospect of follow-up observations by amateur astronomers.
Rubin Observatory finds dwarf planet candidate 2026 ED138
What happened
On October 27, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory announced 2026 ED138, a bright object orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune. Its brightness makes it a dwarf planet candidate. Further measurements are needed to establish its size and shape. The source reports cover the discovery, earlier telescope images of the object and what observers could learn next.
Coverage
Sky & Telescope examines the orbit and color of 2026 ED138
The report compares the candidate’s brightness with other distant objects and discusses what its color and orbit suggest about its origins.
Space.com traces earlier observations of 2026 ED138
Space.com describes observations from a Chilean telescope dating back to 2016 and explains how infrared measurements could narrow the size estimate.
New dwarf planet candidate discovered by NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory
The agency describes how the team detected the object in early Rubin survey data near a crowded region of the sky.
Coverage growth
0 independent media first covered this event in the past 6 hours, compared with 0 in the preceding window.
How the score was calculated
| Signal | Score | Weight used |
|---|---|---|
| Recency | 8/100 | 38.5% |
| Independent media growth | 0/100 | 30.8% |
| Coverage detail | 70/100 | 15.4% |
| Publisher clicks | 0/100 | 15.4% |
Recent measurements (UTC)
| Measured | Window | New media | Previous window | Trend score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-13 06:15:00 | 6h | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 2026-11-13 06:30:00 | 6h | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 2026-11-13 06:45:00 | 6h | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 2026-11-13 07:00:00 | 6h | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 2026-11-13 07:15:00 | 6h | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 2026-11-13 07:30:00 | 6h | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 2026-11-13 07:45:00 | 6h | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 2026-11-13 08:00:00 | 6h | 0 | 0 | 14 |