Space body 'most distant yet found in solar system'

Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a miniature planet that is the most distant body ever found in the solar system, scientists said on Wednesday.

Based on its reflectivity, scientists believe the icy body, known as V774101, is between 500 and 1,000 kilometers in diameter, roughly half the size of Pluto. It is almost 16 billion km from Earth, or about three times farther away than Pluto.

Scott Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC, said: "We can't really classify the object yet, as we don't know its orbit. We only found it a few weeks ago."