Most distant object in the Solar System

On 14 November 2003, scientists using the 48-inch Samuel Oschin telescope at Mount Palomar Observatory, California, found a small planet-like body orbiting the sun at over three times further distance than the orbit of Pluto. Named Sedna after the Inuit Goddess of the sea, many telescopes around the world were trained on the new discovery to ascertain that at that time the minor planet was 13 billion km (8.4 billion miles) from the Sun. In it's highly elliptical orbit, Sedna can reach 130 billion km (84 billion miles) from the Sun and takes approximately 10,500 years to complete one orbit. The object is estimated to be less than 1700 km (1000 miles) in diameter, which classifies it as a Dwarf Planet. Due to it's distance from the Sun, Sedna is one of the coldest places in the Solar System, with its surface temperature never rising above minus 240 degrees Centigrade (minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit.