The Hubble Space Telescope has earned its place in the history of science by imaging big stuff that is far away in both space and time. Now, it has also found a tiny object far out in the Solar System.
A team of researchers has used HST images to find a body in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune that is only roughly a half mile across. Previously, the smallest object found in the Belt was 30 miles across.
The object was not directly imaged. Rather, the team looked for occultations-- blinks-- of background stars. By noting the duration of the blink, the team could work out the size and speed of the object that moved in front of the star.
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