Astronomers find new world beyond Pluto

PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Astronomers report finding a large new world of ice and rock circling the sun beyond Pluto, the most distant planet from Earth.

Preliminary observations suggest the new body may be more than 1,100 miles across, making it the largest body other than a true planet to be discovered orbiting the sun, the BBC said Saturday.

Named 2004 DW, it was found on Feb. 17 by California Institute of Technology astronomers Chad Trujillo and Mike Brown and David Rabinowitz of Yale, same team that discovered Quaoar in 2002.

Astronomers believe that there are many more so-called "Kuiper Belt Objects" awaiting discovery in the cold, dark, outer reaches of the Solar System.