Precovery of the Dwarf Planet Candidate 2026 ED138 in 2010–2011 VISTA/VVV Images

2026 ED138 is a large trans-Neptunian object and dwarf planet candidate (a = 42.9 au, H = 2.93) reported by the Rubin Observatory in 2026 and linked to Dark Energy Camera images back to 2016. I searched public survey archives for earlier images. In 2010–2011 the object crossed the Galactic plane inside the footprint of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) survey. Using template-subtracted pawprint stacks and a local astrometric tie to Gaia DR3, I measured 15 positions on four nights (2010 March 18 to 2011 July 1) in the Z, Y, J and H bands. They agree with the current orbit to an rms of 0.06″ in right ascension and 0.02″ in declination, and extend the observed arc by six years. The positions have been submitted to the Minor Planet Center (code W91, submission ID 2026-10-28T16:38:07.859_0000CHyD) and were awaiting acceptance at the time of writing. The note also reports searches that found nothing: Catalina Sky Survey (no coverage), ATLAS (too shallow), SkyMapper DR4 (no detection in crowded fields), Gaia DR1–DR3 (no excess of sources along the track) and VVV Ks (no reliable detections). Files: the note (PDF); the 15 positions in ADES PSV format; and an archive with the data tables, figures, analysis code and LaTeX source. Use of AI tools: the archive searches, analysis code, measurements, figures and text were produced with substantial help from Claude (Anthropic; Claude Opus 5.5 via Claude Code), under the author's direction. The author reviewed the results and is responsible for the content. Not peer reviewed.