Astronomers have discovered a mysterious little dwarf planet which they believe is covered in ice and may sport the wispy remnants of an atmosphere. The planet, nicknamed “Snow White”, lies outside Neptune and is orbiting the Sun as part of the Kuiper belt—the ring of icy bodies that orbit the sun beyond Neptune.
Officially known as 2007 OR10, it is actually red, half of its surface is covered by water ice that probably spewed from ancient cryo-volcanoes, researchers said.
It’s believed that the dwarf planet’s reddish hue likely comes from a thin layer of methane, the last gasps of an atmosphere that has been bleeding off into space for eons.
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