There may be a sixth dwarf planet hiding beyond Pluto

Far beyond Pluto, in the glare of the Milky Way's stars, astronomers at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have spotted something big and bright: an object provisionally named 2026 ED138, now identified as a candidate for our solar system's sixth dwarf planet. It would join Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake in that small, beloved family. The find came from running billions of pieces of observatory data through a search code written by astronomer Kevin Napier of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian — a reminder that even our own cosmic backyard still keeps secrets, waiting for patient eyes and clever code.