Mysterious dwarf planet-sized asteroid is hidden in our solar system, study suggests

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Our solar system appears to be home to a huge and unknown dwarf planet-sized asteroid, according to a new study. While many are left in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, others have been broken up and sent pieces into the inner solar system. One of those pieces arrived 12 years ago, and has been used to study the still mysterious, large parent asteroid that appears to be hiding in our solar system. "Spectral analysis identified a range of hydrated minerals, in particular amphibole, which points to intermediate temperatures and pressures and a prolonged period of aqueous alteration on a parent asteroid at least 400, and up to 1,100, miles in diameter.” Such amphiboles are rare in meteorites like Almahata Sitta, which are known as carbonaceous chondrite and serve as a record off the earliest stages of the universe.