Number 97 (Story #1), October 6, 1992 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein THE MOST DISTANT BODY IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM YET OBSERVED , an object called 1992 QB1, lies at a distance of 42 astronomical units (3.9 billion miles) from the Sun. Reported on Sept. 14, 1992 by David Jewitt (Hawaii) and Jane Luu (UC Berkeley), 1992 QB1 is estimated to be about 20 times larger than Comet Halley. If its trajectory around the Sun proves to be circular (several more months of observations are needed), astronomers may deduce that it comes from the Kuiper belt, the hypothetical ring of icy bodies (possibly remnants of the solar system's formation) beyond the outer planets. If, however, the trajectory proves to be parabolic, then 1992 QB1 may well have originated in the so called Oort cloud, an even more distant hypothetical staging area for long-period comets. If so, 1992 QB1 would present quite a spectacle for earthly observers by the middle of the next century, according to Brian Marsden of the Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. (Science News, 25 Sept.)