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596 Sentences With "Neptunian"

How to use Neptunian in a sentence? Find typical usage patterns (collocations)/phrases/context for "Neptunian" and check conjugation/comparative form for "Neptunian". Mastering all the usages of "Neptunian" from sentence examples published by news publications.

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The current psychic Neptunian energy is balanced by grounding planet Saturn.
It's the first exoplanet like this to be found in the Neptunian Desert.
Under this Neptunian influence, you'll find it very easy to fall in love.
These Neptunian vibes are balanced by planet of discipline, Saturn, keeping us grounded.
It's the "most extreme Trans-Neptunian Object found to date," according to the paper.
As for orbital periods between one to four days—the short-period Neptunian desert—not so much.
A Neptunian perfume or oil is one you might wear to bed or during your meditation practice.
" The paper's authors describe the new object as the "most extreme" Trans-Neptunian Object "discovered to date.
These included dwarf planet Sedna, a newfound object called 2012 VP113, and several other trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs).
Hippocamp is only about 1433 kilometers (21 miles) in diameter, making it the runt of the Neptunian family.
Messenger planet Mercury harmonizes with stern Saturn, grounding the whimsical Neptunian energy, and encouraging you to be more rational.
When you actually discern what your needs are, it's much easier to slice through any Neptunian fogs of confusion.
You can ease into the transition, however, by keeping a journal or record of what this Neptunian retrograde brought you.
It's one of several large trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) known to astronomers, other notable examples being Pluto, Eris, and Sedna.
The huge number of these trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) makes it computationally intensive to model the evolution of their orbits.
The Goblin, or 20153 TG38 as it's more formally called, is what's known as an extreme trans-Neptunian object, or ETNO.
"As long as we accept our actions and are accountable, we can avoid the fog of the Neptunian retrograde haze," Stardust says.
The International Astronomical Union requires that a body's name reflects its characteristics, and that trans-Neptunian objects get names derived from creator deities.
The Kuiper Belt is home to thousands of much smaller trans-Neptunian worlds, the vast majority of which are still yet to discovered.
The modern zeal for aquatic scents began in the 1980s, when a briny Neptunian aroma chemical called calone became popular at fragrance houses.
If hazards were detected, however, the resulting course correction would have taken the probe three times further away from the mysterious trans-Neptunian object.
However, it may take a while before everything starts to make sense to you, thanks to today's Neptunian vibe, plus Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius.
"Many different processes can have an impact on the structure of the Kuiper Belt and the rest of the trans-Neptunian region," Bernardinelli explained.
Take a step back, and don't fall for the bullshit that the people around you may be falling for (Neptunian energy can be very gullible).
Neptunian illusions thrive on the internet, where it's easy to pretend we're prettier and happier than we are — or that our sadness is poetic and cool.
Prioritize taking care of your health every day, making a proverbial lighthouse out of something like daily water intake to guide you through the Neptunian fog.
Illustration: oberto Molar Candanosa/Carnegie Institution for ScienceA team of astronomers has discovered the most extreme trans-Neptunian object in the outer reaches of the Solar System.
But even before Voyager 2 arrived in the Neptunian system, astronomer and Villanova professor Dr. Edward Guinan had spotted unusual dimming patterns around the planet in 1968.
After NASA's New Horizons zipped past Pluto on July 235, 222, mission planners sent the spacecraft on a trajectory towards 269 MU269, a distant trans-Neptunian object (TNO).
The IAU reclassified it as a dwarf planet, also calling it a "Trans-Neptunian Object," which prompted outrage from schoolchildren, small planet enthusiasts, and the internet in general.
Mars opposes Saturn at 11:49 AM, and we hit a wall—don't force things to happen and use the Neptunian energy in the atmosphere to go with the flow.
Whitmire's paper toys with the original "Nemesis" idea, suggesting other possible culprits including a very inclined Earth-like planet between Neptune and Planet Nine or yet another trans-Neptunian planet.
The elusive Planet Nine, sometimes referred to as Planet X, is thought to exist owing to the peculiar orbits of certain Kuiper Belt Objects, also known as Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs).
Other extreme trans-Neptunian objects include Eris at 96 AU and Goblin, which was discovered earlier this year, at 90 AU.Astronomers don't know much about Farout's physical characteristics because it's so faint.
After this sleepy Neptunian moment, a burst of energy arrives when Mars clashes with Jupiter on September 13—just be mindful of arguments and watch out for potential consequences of poor planning.
Image: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)"This object is currently the second-most distant known trans-Neptunian object with reported orbital elements, surpassed in distance only by the dwarf planet Eris," the researchers wrote.
It doesn't seem like NASA or other space agencies have any immediate plans to go back, although a Cassini-style orbiter mission would definitely clear up many questions about the Neptunian ring system.
If it's any consolation, we'll all be under this lunar-cum-Neptunian spell, so hopefully we'll show each other a little extra patience this week, or until the moon moves into Aries on Friday.
These minor planets, known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), "are relics of major dynamical events among and beyond the giant planets," according to a study published this week in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.
Look out for confusion on Thursday when Mercury faces off with planet of deception Neptune at 9:32 PM. You'll be able to clear up this Neptunian fog on Sunday, when you'll need to straighten things out.
However, only five objects -- Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris -- had previously been observed well enough to be sure they fit the classification for dwarf planet (and weren't, say, mere planetoids, or moons of other trans-Neptunian objects).
Plus, a big shift will bring unexpected changes on July 25 (likely concerning your home and family) when the Sun clashes with Uranus, shaking you out of any Neptunian fog—and Venusian longing—you may have been languishing in.
He wrote that the scenario is a stretch but not entirely implausible, and a black hole becomes an interesting potential target if Planet Nine goes unfound by typical deep surveys and if the strange motion of the trans-Neptunian objects persists.
Objects as bright or brighter than RR245 are also shown (Image: Alex Parker OSSOS team)Our solar system is home to a bunch of trans-Neptunian dwarf planets (such as Pluto, Makemake, Sedna, and Eris), but RR245 is exceptional because its aphelion (i.
Image: oberto Molar Candanosa/Scott S. Sheppard/Carnegie Institution for ScienceThis extreme trans-Neptunian object is about 120 astronomical units (AU) from Earth, where 22018 AU is the average distance from the Earth to the Sun (about 218 million miles, or 210 million kilometers).
"Planet Nine" is thought to be located so far from the Sun that it reflects very little light, and scientists have so far hypothesized its existence based on the strange clustered orbits of a group of trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), a class of objects that includes Pluto.
Three super-Earths and a planet that shouldn&apost existThree of the six new planets are rocky super-Earths (planets larger than Earth but not large enough to be Neptune-like), which could be the remaining cores of once-giant planets that crossed the Neptunian desert.
Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are minor objects that orbit the Sun at a distance greater than Neptune does at 30 AU. We suspect there are thousands of TNOs in our solar system, and while they may seem distant and unimportant, they're essentially scraps from the formation of the solar system—so very old and very cold.
The color difference of V–I= between Gonggong (V–I=) and Xiangliu (V–I=) is the largest among all known binary trans-Neptunian objects. This large color difference is atypical for trans-Neptunian binary systems: the components of most trans-Neptunian binaries display little color variation.
Distribution of trans-Neptunian objects. Objects occupying the stronger resonances are in red. The diagram illustrates the distribution of the known trans-Neptunian objects. Resonant objects are plotted in red.
In Witte's times, many astronomers proposed hypothetical Trans-Neptunian objects. So Witte proposed the existence of several hypothetical Trans-Neptunian objects, too. While modern technology has verified the existence of thousands of Trans- Neptunian objects, the specific Trans-Neptunian objects that are used by the Hamburg School and Uranian astrology have not yet been validated or disproven as of September 2011. Some members of the Hamburg School have for a number of years asserted that some of Witte's Trans-Neptunians may actually be the barycenters of clusters of Trans-Neptunian objects, and shun both the labels "planet" and "object" for this reason.
She specialized in studying sednoids, and co-discovered several trans-Neptunian objects.
' is a trans-Neptunian object that is a member of the Haumea family.
2013 FT28 is a trans-Neptunian object. The existence of the TNO was discovered on 16 March 2013 at Cerro Tololo Observatory, La Serena and revealed on 30 August 2016. is the first high semi-major axis, high perihelion extreme trans- Neptunian object that is anti-aligned with the other known extreme trans- Neptunian objects such as Sedna and , i.e. its longitude of perihelion differs by 180° from other objects.
In this respect, the inner Neptunian moons are similar to the inner Uranian moons.
Since then, Brown has contributed to the discovery of larger trans- Neptunian objects, including Haumea, , Makemake, and .
If a massive trans-Neptunian object exists, like hypothetical Planet Nine, may be co- orbital with it.
In June 2002, 50000 Quaoar, a large Trans-Neptunian object, was discovered and named after this deity.
Scattered-disc objects come within gravitational range of Neptune at their closest approaches (~30 AU) but their farthest distances reach many times that. Ongoing research suggests that the centaurs, a class of icy planetoids that orbit between Jupiter and Neptune, may simply be SDOs thrown into the inner reaches of the Solar System by Neptune, making them "cis-Neptunian" rather than trans-Neptunian scattered objects.Remo notes that Cis-Neptunian bodies "include terrestrial and large gaseous planets, planetary moons, asteroids, and main-belt comets within Neptune's orbit." (Remo 2007) Some objects, like (29981) 1999 TD10, blur the distinction and the Minor Planet Center (MPC), which officially catalogues all trans-Neptunian objects, now lists centaurs and SDOs together.
In addition, dust bands observed between the main rings of Uranus may be similar to the rings of Jupiter. In contrast, the Neptunian ring system is quite similar to that of Uranus, although it is less complex, darker and contains more dust; the Neptunian rings are also positioned further from the planet.
' is a large trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System, currently 61.46 AUs from the sun.
Distribution of mass versus orbital period for planets with a measured mass. Black lines represent the Neptunian desert. NGTS-4b is shown as a red cross. The Neptunian Desert or sub-Jovian desert is broadly defined as the region close to a star (period < 2–4 days) where no Neptune-sized (> 0.1 ) exoplanets are found.
' is an extreme trans-Neptunian object and extended scattered disc object from the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter.
' is an extreme trans-Neptunian and scattered disc object from the outermost regions of the Solar System, approximately 134 kilometers in diameter.
' (nicknamed Niku; ) is a trans-Neptunian object that has an unusual 110° tilted solar orbital plane and retrograde orbit around the Sun.
' is a red 2:5 resonant trans-Neptunian object (TNO) discovered on 9 October 2002 by Mike Brown's team at the Palomar Observatory.
', provisional designation ', is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) discovered by David Rabinowitz on December 17, 2009 at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.
Such extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs) can not reach such orbits without some perturbing object, which lead to the speculation of Planet Nine.
These extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs) can not reach such orbits without some perturbing object, which lead to the speculation of Planet Nine.
These extreme trans- Neptunian objects (ETNOs) can not reach such orbits without some perturbing object, which lead to the speculation of Planet Nine.
', provisionally known as 2005 TB190', is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) with an absolute magnitude of 4.4, making it a likely dwarf planet.
In astronomy, a resonant trans-Neptunian object is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in mean-motion orbital resonance with Neptune. The orbital periods of the resonant objects are in a simple integer relations with the period of Neptune, e.g. 1:2, 2:3, etc. Resonant TNOs can be either part of the main Kuiper belt population, or the more distant scattered disc population.
' is a trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System, currently located at a distance of about 78.5 AU from the Sun.
Leonard was one of the first astronomers to hypothesize the existence of a trans-Neptunian population. In 1930, soon after Pluto's discovery by Clyde Tombaugh, Leonard pondered whether it was "not likely that in Pluto there has come to light the first of a series of ultra-Neptunian bodies, the remaining members of which still await discovery but which are destined eventually to be detected".
A cis-Neptunian object is, literally, any astronomical body found within the orbit of Neptune. However, the term is typically used for those distant minor planets other than trans-Neptunian objects: that is, all sub-planetary bodies orbiting the Sun at or within the distance of Neptune, but outside the orbit of Jupiter. This includes the icy minor planets known as centaurs and the Neptune trojans.
There are more than 2,000 unnumbered trans-Neptunian objects, defined here as minor planets with a semi-major axis larger than 30.1 AU (Neptune's average orbital distance from the Sun). The data is sourced from MPC's "List of Trans Neptunian Objects" and "List Of Centaurs and Scattered-Disk Objects", completed with information from Johnston's Archive (diameter, class, binary status, etc.). For the list of numbered TNOs, see .
' is an extreme trans-Neptunian object from the extended scattered disc in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was first observed on 29 October 2013, by astronomers at the Las Campanas Observatory in the southern Atacama Desert of Chile. The detached extended scattered disc object (ESDO) is on a highly eccentric orbit and belongs to the extreme trans- Neptunian objects.
Some have considered Forbes's hypothesis a precursor to Planet Nine. In 1900 and 1901, Harvard College Observatory director William Henry Pickering led two searches for trans-Neptunian planets. The first was begun by Danish astronomer Hans Emil Lau who, after studying the data on the orbit of Uranus from 1690 to 1895, concluded that one trans-Neptunian planet alone could not account for the discrepancies in its orbit, and postulated the position of two planets he believed were responsible. The second was launched when Gabriel Dallet suggested that a single trans-Neptunian planet lying at 47 AU could account for the motion of Uranus.
', provisionally known as 2000 YW134', is a binary trans-Neptunian object (TNO). It is likely in 3:8 resonance with Neptune or possibly a detached object.
' is a large trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System, currently 62.87 AUs from the sun, with a 61.7 AU semimajor axis.
It is the ninth-intrinsically-brightest known trans-Neptunian object, and is approximately tied (to within measurement uncertainties) as the largest unnamed object in the Solar System.
5:2 resonant Kuiper-belt objects Known trans-Neptunian objects are often divided into two subpopulations: the Kuiper belt and the scattered disc. A third reservoir of trans-Neptunian objects, the Oort cloud, has been hypothesized, although no confirmed direct observations of the Oort cloud have been made. Some researchers further suggest a transitional space between the scattered disc and the inner Oort cloud, populated with "detached objects".
', also written as (303775) 2005 QU182', is a trans-Neptunian object with a bright absolute magnitude of ca. 3.6. Mike Brown lists it as probably a dwarf planet.
Proteus is probably not an original body that formed with Neptune. It could have accreted later from the debris formed when the largest Neptunian satellite Triton was captured.
90377 Sedna, a trans-Neptunian object discovered by Michael Brown (Caltech), Chad Trujillo (Gemini Observatory) and David Rabinowitz (Yale University) on November 14, 2003, is named after her.
', also written as 2002 VE95', is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) with an absolute magnitude of 5.7. A 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune makes it a plutino.
' is a large trans-Neptunian object and likely dwarf planet orbiting in the scattered disc region of the outermost Solar System. It measures approximately 700 kilometers in diameter.
' is an extreme trans-Neptunian object from the extended scattered disc in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was first observed on 3 September 2005, by astronomers with the Canada–France Ecliptic Plane Survey using the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii, United States. The detached, extended scattered disc object (ESDO) is on a highly eccentric orbit and belongs to the extreme trans- Neptunian objects.
' is an extreme trans-Neptunian object from the extended scattered disc on a highly eccentric orbit in the outermost region of the Solar System. It measures approximately in diameter and is "probably" a dwarf planet. The detached, extended scattered disc object belongs to the group of extreme trans-Neptunian objects. It was first observed on 16 March 2013, by American astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile.
' (also written 2004 PF115') is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO). It was discovered in 2006 by M. Brown, C. Trujillo, D. Rabinowitz. The object is classified as a possible plutino.
A trans-Neptunian object is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance (semi-major axis) than Neptune, 30 astronomical units (AU).
Pickering went on to suggest many other possible trans-Neptunian planets up to the year 1932, which he named P, Q, R, S, T, and U; none were ever detected.
38083 Rhadamanthus is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO). It was discovered in 1999 by the Deep Ecliptic Survey. It was originally thought to be a plutino but no longer is.
' is a trans-Neptunian object from the classical Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. The binary classical Kuiper belt object belongs to the cold population.
Michele Bannister (born 1986) is a New Zealand planetary astronomer and science communicator at the University of Canterbury, who has participated in surveying the outermost Solar System for trans-Neptunian objects.
', provisional designation , is an extrem trans-Neptunian object from the extended scattered disc on a highly eccentric orbit in the outermost region of the Solar System. It measures approximately in diameter and is "possibly" a dwarf planet. The rather reddish extended scattered disc object belongs to the group of extreme trans-Neptunian objects. It was discovered on 4 November 2007 by astronomers Andrew Becker, Andrew Puckett and Jeremy Kubica at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, United States.
', also written as (86047) 1999 OY3', is a trans-Neptunian object that resides in the Kuiper belt beyond Pluto. It was discovered on July 18, 1999, at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii.
', provisionally known as , is a temporary quasi-satellite of Neptune. Observed from Neptune, it would appear to go around it during one Neptunian year but it actually orbits the Sun, not Neptune.
Pluto was easiest to find because it has the highest apparent magnitude of all known trans-Neptunian objects. It also has a lower inclination to the ecliptic than most other large TNOs.
' (also written (119070) 2001 KP77') is a 4:7 resonant trans-Neptunian object (TNO) located in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on May 23, 2001, by Marc W. Buie at Cerro Tololo.
Editor of quarterly scientific journal Acta Astronomica and a chairman of Copernicus Foundation for Polish Astronomy. He is a co-discoverer of 471143 Dziewanna, a trans-Neptunian object and possibly a dwarf planet.
David Gerdes (born 1964) is an American astrophysicist and professor at the University of Michigan. He is known for his research on trans-Neptunian objects, particularly for his discovery of the dwarf planet, .
Size comparison of Neptune's seven inner moons The mass distribution of the Neptunian moons is the most lopsided of the satellite systems of the giant planets in the Solar System. One moon, Triton, makes up nearly all of the mass of the system, with all other moons together comprising only one third of one percent. The reason for the lopsidedness of the present Neptunian system is that Triton was captured from the Kuiper belt well after the formation of Neptune's original satellite system, much of which was destroyed in the process of capture. Triton's orbit upon capture is presumed to have been highly eccentric, which would have caused chaotic perturbations in the orbits of the original inner Neptunian satellites, leading to the ejection of some moons and the collisional destruction of others.
In 2020, a high-density planet more massive than Neptune was found very close to its host star, within the Neptunian desert. This world, TOI 849 b, may very well be a chthonian planet.
Among other trans-Neptunian objects, the large plutino and Pluto's moon Charon both have similar surface spectra to Orcus, with flat, featureless visible spectra and moderately strong water ice absorption bands in the near-infrared.
Trans-Neptunian object was announced on 26 March 2014 and has a similar orbit to Sedna with a perihelion point significantly detached from Neptune. Its orbit lies between 80 and 400 AU from the Sun.
These compounds may be responsible for the low albedo of the inner Neptunian moons. Although Proteus is usually thought to contain significant amounts of water ice, it has not been detected spectroscopically on the surface.
After the discovery of Pluto and Charon, no more trans- Neptunian objects (TNOs) were found until 15760 Albion in 1992. Since then, thousands of such objects have been discovered. Most are now recognized as part of the Kuiper belt, a swarm of icy bodies left over from the Solar System's formation that orbit near the ecliptic plane just beyond Neptune. Though none were as large as Pluto, some of these distant trans-Neptunian objects, such as Sedna, were initially described in the media as "new planets".
Distribution of trans-Neptunian objects According to their distance from the Sun and their orbital parameters, TNOs are classified in two large groups: the Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) and the scattered disc objects (SDOs). The diagram to the right illustrates the distribution of known trans-Neptunian objects (up to 70 AU) in relation to the orbits of the planets and the centaurs for reference. Different classes are represented in different colours. Resonant objects (including Neptune trojans) are plotted in red, classical Kuiper belt objects in blue.
' is a high inclination trans-Neptunian object and slow rotator from the outer Solar System, approximately 100 kilometers in diameter. It was first observed at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile on 30 November 2010.
When electronic imaging came about, Trans-Neptunian Objects of the Kuiper Belt were found, and then Eris, widely hailed as the "new planet", was discovered, which prompted the 2006 round of recategorization of what is a planet.
' is a trans-Neptunian object of the scattered disc, approximately 148 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 6 September 1999, by American astronomers Chad Trujillo, Jane Luu, and David Jewitt at the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object and possible dwarf planet in the scattered disc, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 18 April 2010, by the Pan-STARRS 1 survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States.
' (also written (307463) 2002 VU130') is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO). It was discovered in 2002 by Marc W. Buie at Kitt Peak Observatory. The object is classified as a plutino (in 2:3 resonance with Neptune).
The infrared spectra of both Eris and Pluto, highlighting their common methane absorption lines Scattered objects, like other trans-Neptunian objects, have low densities and are composed largely of frozen volatiles such as water and methane. Spectral analysis of selected Kuiper belt and scattered objects has revealed signatures of similar compounds. Both Pluto and Eris, for instance, show signatures for methane. Astronomers originally supposed that the entire trans-Neptunian population would show a similar red surface colour, as they were thought to have originated in the same region and subjected to the same physical processes.
The relative masses of the Neptunian moons Triton's orbit upon capture would have been highly eccentric, and would have caused chaotic perturbations in the orbits of the original inner Neptunian satellites, causing them to collide and reduce to a disc of rubble. This means it is likely that Neptune's present inner satellites are not the original bodies that formed with Neptune. Only after Triton's orbit became circularised could some of the rubble re-accrete into the present-day regular moons. The mechanism of Triton's capture has been the subject of several theories over the years.
At the time of discovery, Ixion was located in the constellation of Scorpius. The discoverers of Ixion noted that it appeared relatively bright for a distant object, implying that it might be rather large for a TNO. The discovery supported suggestions that there were undiscovered large trans-Neptunian objects comparable in size to Pluto. Since Ixion's discovery, numerous large trans- Neptunian objects, notably the dwarf planets Haumea, , and Makemake, have been discovered. The discovery of Ixion was formally announced by the Minor Planet Center in a Minor Planet Electronic Circular on 1 July 2001.
38628 Huya ( ), provisional designation , is a binary trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper belt, a region of icy objects orbiting beyond Neptune in the outer Solar System. Huya is classified as a plutino, a dynamical class of trans-Neptunian objects with orbits in a 3:2 orbital resonance with Neptune. It was discovered by the Quasar Equatorial Survey Team and was identified by Venezuelan astronomer Ignacio Ferrín in March 2000. It is named after Juyá, the mythological rain god of the Wayuu people native to South America.
', also written as (126154) 2001 YH140', is a resonant trans-Neptunian object discovered on 18 December 2001, by American astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown at the Palomar Observatory in California. It measures approximately 345 kilometers in diameter.
', also written as 2002 XV93', is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) with an absolute magnitude of 5.4. A 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune makes it a plutino. It has been observed with precovery images back to 1990.
', is an extreme trans-Neptunian object of the extended scattered disc in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 180 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by astronomers at the Mauna Kea Observatory on 26 April 2003.
', provisional designation , is a highly eccentric planet crossing trans- Neptunian object, approximately 44 kilometers in diameter. It is on a retrograde cometary orbit. It has a barycentric semi-major axis (average distance from the Sun) of approximately 286 AU.
Its last observation was made by the Hubble Space Telescope in September 2008. On 10 August 1926, it most recently reached perihelion, when it was nearest to the Sun. It is a near 5:7 resonant trans- Neptunian object.
The object's discovery telescope, Subaru (Japanese name for the Pleiades) on the far left, alongside the twin Keck telescopes and NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility was first observed by Scott Sheppard, Chad Trujillo, and David Tholen on 13 October 2015 using the Subaru Telescope, a large reflecting telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories on the summit of Mauna Kea with a primary mirror in diameter. In 2015 it was only observed for 26 days, which is a very short observation arc for a trans-Neptunian object as objects far from the Sun move very slowly across the sky. It is calculated that it will remain in the constellation of Aries from 1994 until 2077. It was announced on 13 March 2018 alongside several other trans-Neptunian objects with a current heliocentric distance greater than 50 AU. The trans-Neptunian objects , , and V774104 were also discovered by this team on 13 October 2015.
', provisionally known as 2001 XH255', is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) that has a 4:5 resonance with Neptune. It will come to perihelion in 2041. Assuming a generic TNO albedo of 0.09, it is about 100 km in diameter.
' is a trans-Neptunian object. It was discovered on September 12, 2013 at Cerro Tololo-DECam It is part of the evidence for the Planet Nine hypothesis because it shares a similar argument of perihelion with other potentially shepherded TNOs.
However, as Eris, other dwarf planets such as Haumea and Makemake and further trans-Neptunian objects have been discovered and the region has been better scrutinized by astronomers, works of fiction have begun to reflect the region more extensively and realistically.
' (also written (26375) 1999 DE9') is a trans-Neptunian object. Light-curve- amplitude analysis shows only small deviations, suggesting is a spheroid with small albedo spots.Tancredi, G., & Favre, S. (2008) Which are the dwarfs in the Solar System?. Depto. Astronomía, Fac.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and the tenth-most-distant known object in the Solar System . Considered a detached object, it orbits the Sun in a highly eccentric orbit every 3305 years at an average distance of 222 astronomical units (AU).
' (also written (19308) 1996 TO66') is a trans-Neptunian object that was discovered in 1996 by Chadwick Trujillo, David Jewitt and Jane Luu. Until 20000 Varuna was discovered, it was the second-largest known object in the Kuiper belt, after Pluto.
', is a trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 122 kilometers in diameter. It was first observed on 7 April 2002, by American astronomer Marc Buie at Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile.
' (prov. designation: ) is a trans-Neptunian object, approximately in diameter, on a highly eccentric orbit in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered by astronomers at the Chilean Cerro Tololo Inter- American Observatory on 29 July 2000.
Gonggong has an absolute magnitude (H) of 2.34, which makes it the seventh-brightest trans-Neptunian object known. It is dimmer than (H=2.31; D=917 km) but brighter than Quaoar (H=2.82; D=1,110 km). The Minor Planet Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Small-Body Database assume a brighter absolute magnitude of 1.6 and 1.8, respectively, which would make it the fifth brightest trans-Neptunian object. Being 88 AU from the Sun, the apparent magnitude of Gonggong is only 21.5, and so it is too dim to be seen from Earth with the naked eye.
' is a distant trans-Neptunian object that was discovered well beyond from the Sun. It was first observed on 10 November 2018 by astronomers Scott Sheppard, David Tholen, and Chad Trujillo during a search for distant trans-Neptunian objects whose orbits may be gravitationally influenced by hypothetical Planet Nine. They announced their discovery on 17 December 2018 and nicknamed the object "Farout" to emphasize its distance from the Sun. the object is at an observed distance of from the Sun, which is more than three times the observed distance of the dwarf planet Pluto from the Sun.
Crystalline water ice on the surfaces of trans-Neptunian objects should be completely amorphized by the galactic and Solar radiation in about 10 million years. Thus the presence of crystalline water ice, and possibly ammonia ice, may indicate that a renewal mechanism was active in the past on the surface of Orcus. Ammonia so far has not been detected on any trans-Neptunian object or icy satellite of the outer planets other than Miranda. The 1.65 μm band on Orcus is broad and deep (12%), as on Charon, Quaoar, Haumea, and icy satellites of giant planets.
In 1999, Brian G. Marsden of Harvard University's Minor Planet Center suggested that Pluto be given the minor planet number 10000 while still retaining its official position as a planet. The prospect of Pluto's "demotion" created a public outcry, and in response the International Astronomical Union clarified that it was not at that time proposing to remove Pluto from the planet list. Copy kept at the Argonne National Laboratory. The discovery of several other trans-Neptunian objects, such as Quaoar and Sedna, continued to erode arguments that Pluto was exceptional from the rest of the trans-Neptunian population.
It probably escaped detection during the earlier surveys due to its relatively high orbital inclination, and the fact that it was at its farthest distance from the ecliptic at the time of its discovery, in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices. Precovery images have been identified back to January 29, 1955. Makemake is the brightest trans-Neptunian object after Pluto. Indeed, with an apparent magnitude of 16.2 in late 1930, it is theoretically bright enough to have been discovered by Clyde Tombaugh, whose search for trans- Neptunian objects was sensitive to objects up to magnitude 17.
Triton After having visited Saturn successfully, it was decided to continue and fund further missions by Voyager 2 to Uranus and Neptune. These missions were conducted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Neptunian mission was dubbed "Voyager Neptune Interstellar Mission". Voyager 2 started taking navigation images of Neptune in May 1988. Voyager 2 observation phase proper of Neptune began 5 June 1989, the spacecraft officially reached the Neptunian system on 25 August and the data collection stopped on 2 October. Initially it was planned to use a trajectory that resulted in Voyager 2 passing around from Neptune and from Triton.
Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth, in images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft The only mission to date that primarily targeted a trans-Neptunian object was NASA's New Horizons, which was launched in January 2006 and flew by the Pluto system in July 2015 NASA New Horizons Mission Page and 486958 Arrokoth in January 2019. In 2011, a design study explored a spacecraft survey of Quaoar, Sedna, Makemake, Haumea, and Eris. In 2019 one mission to TNOs included designs for orbital capture and multi-target scenarios.Low-Cost Opportunity for Multiple Trans-Neptunian Object Rendezvous and Capture, AAS Paper 17-777.
With a rotation period around 22 hours, Gonggong rotates slowly compared to other trans-Neptunian objects, which typically have periods less than 12 hours. The slow rotation of Gonggong may have been caused by tidal forces from its natural satellite, named Xiangliu.
' is a classical trans-Neptunian object and possible dwarf planet of the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 450 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 13 July 2004, by astronomers at Palomar Observatory, California, United States.
', also written as is a resonant trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It measures approximately 134 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by astronomers at the Mauna Kea Observatory on 28 April 1998.
', also written as (145453) 2005 RR43', is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) estimated to be about 250 km in diameter. It was discovered on 9 September 2005 by Andrew Becker, Andrew Puckett and Jeremy Kubica at Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico.
', previously known as , is a trans-Neptunian object orbiting in the Kuiper belt of the outermost Solar System. It was first observed by the Outer Solar System Origins Survey using the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea on 13 April 2015.
', also designated ', is a trans-Neptunian object that was discovered in 2011. With an absolute magnitude of 5.0, it is possibly a dwarf planet. Its orbital elements were very uncertain and it was lost. It was recovered on 6 January 2015 as .
Megan "Meg" E. Schwamb (born 1984) is an American astronomer and planetary scientist, and lecturer at Queen's University, Belfast. Schwamb discovered and co-discovered several trans-Neptunian objects, and is involved with Citizen science projects such as Planet Four and Planet Hunters.
', is a trans-Neptunian- and scattered disc object from the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 117 kilometers in diameter. It was first observed by astronomers during the Outer Solar System Origins Survey at the Mauna Kea Observatories on 24 May 2015.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and binary system that belongs to the scattered disc (like Eris). Its discovery was announced on 31 March 2014. It has an absolute magnitude (H) of 3.2. is a binary object, with two components approximately and in diameter.
', provisionally known as , is a resonant trans-Neptunian object from the outermost regions of the Solar System, approximately 154 kilometers in diameter. It discovered on 20 December 2001, by American astronomers Chad Trujillo, Glenn Smith and Michael E. Brown at the Palomar Observatory in California.
' is an extreme trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc, located in the outermost regions of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 2 August 2013, by astronomers of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey at Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii, United States.
Additional precovery astrometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Pan-STARRS1 survey shows that is a resonant trans-Neptunian object, securely trapped in a 2:9 mean motion resonance with Neptune, meaning that this minor planet orbits the Sun twice in the same amount of time it takes Neptune to complete 9 orbits. The object is unlikely to have been trapped in the 2:9 resonance for the age of Solar System. It is much more likely that it has been hopping between various resonances and got trapped in the 2:9 resonance in the last 100 million years. Distribution of trans- Neptunian objects.
The Neptunian rings contain a large quantity of micrometer-sized dust: the dust fraction by cross-section area is between 20% and 70%. In this respect they are similar to the rings of Jupiter, in which the dust fraction is 50%–100%, and are very different from the rings of Saturn and Uranus, which contain little dust (less than 0.1%). The particles in Neptune's rings are made from a dark material; probably a mixture of ice with radiation-processed organics. The rings are reddish in color, and their geometrical (0.05) and Bond (0.01–0.02) albedos are similar to those of the Uranian rings' particles and the inner Neptunian moons.
At the time of Huya's discovery, it was thought to be one of the brightest trans-Neptunian objects known, which corresponded to an initially large size estimate for Huya as it appeared relatively bright for a distant object. As Huya comes to opposition, its brightness increases as a result of an opposition surge, in which its phase angle approaches zero. In 2001, long- term photometric observations of Huya were conducted to observe the effects of its opposition surge and to identify any indication of variability in Huya's brightness. Huya was the first trans-Neptunian object other than Pluto to have its opposition surge measured.
65489 Ceto, as a binary also (65489) Ceto/Phorcys, is a binary trans-Neptunian object (TNO) discovered on March 22, 2003 by Chad A. Trujillo and Michael Brown at Palomar. It is named after the sea goddess Ceto from Greek mythology. It came to perihelion in 1989.
This trans- Neptunian object was discovered on 1 July 2010, by NASA's space-based Wide- field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). It was first observed by the Mount Lemmon Survey in 2009, extending the body's observation arc by 8 months prior to its official discovery observation by WISE.
', provisional designation , is a highly eccentric trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc in the outermost part of the Solar System, approximately 330 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 26 March 2001, by American astronomer Marc Buie at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, United States.
' is a binary trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc in the outermost regions of the Solar System. It was discovered by Arianna Gleason in 1995 and measures approximately 176 kilometers in diameter. Its 80-kilometer minor- planet moon, provisionally designated , was discovered on 9 November 2002.
', also written as (120132) 2003 FY128', is a trans-Neptunian object with a diameter of about 460 km. It orbits the Sun at a distance of about 49.81 astronomical units. It was discovered on 26 March 2003 by the NEAT program at the Palomar Observatory, California.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration "Neptune Approach" NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: California Institute of Technology. Accessed December 12, 2018. Voyager 2 discovered previously unknown Neptunian rings,National Aeronautics and Space Administration "Neptune Moons" NASA Science: Solar System Exploration. Updated December 6, 2017. Accessed December 12, 2018.
' is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) that resides in the Kuiper belt and was discovered on 19 August 2001 by Marc William Buie at Cerro Tololo Observatory. It is classified as a plutino, which means that it is in the 3:2 mean motion resonance with Neptune.
' is an eccentric trans-Neptunian object with a centaur-like orbit from the outer Solar System, approximately 150 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 21 July 1999, by astronomers John Kavelaars, Brett Gladman, Matthew Holman and Jean-Marc Petit at Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, United States.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object and centaur from the outer Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 10 December 2002, by astronomers at the Palomar Observatory in California. According to American astronomer Michael Brown, the minor planet is a likely dwarf planet.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object and binary system from the classical Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered by American astronomer Marc Buie at Kitt Peak Observatory on 7 November 2002. The primary measures approximately in diameter.
This minor planet was named after American astronomer Michael E. Brown (born 1965), a professor of astronomy at Caltech in California, and best known for his discoveries of trans-Neptunian objects, in particular the dwarf planet 136199 Eris. The official naming citation was published on 24 July 2002 ().
This minor planet was numbered by the Minor Planet Center on 25 September 2018, together with hundreds of other centaurs, trans-Neptunian and near-Earth objects (see catalog entries from to ). This object received the number in the minor planet catalog (). As of 2018, it has not been named.
', also written as (95625) 2002 GX32', is a trans-Neptunian object that resides in the Kuiper belt. It has a 3:7 resonance with Neptune. It was discovered on April 8, 2002 by Marc W. Buie, Amy B. Jordan, and James L. Elliot. It came to perihelion in 1997.
JPL's small body data base shows this object having an aphelion distance of 39.2 AU, whereas the Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) finds an aphelion distance of 91 AU, which would make it a trans-Neptunian object by JPL's orbital classification (hence the uncertainty whether is a centaur at all).
' is a trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc in the outermost reaches of the Solar System, approximately 212 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 February 2013, by the Outer Solar System Origins Survey at the Mauna Kea Observatories on the island of Hawaii, United States.
The Palomar Distant Solar System Survey (PDSSS) was a wide-field survey aimed at finding distant trans-Neptunian objects that used the robotic 1.2 m Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory and the QUEST large-area CCD camera. The survey was specifically designed to identify putative members of a Sedna- like population with perihelia greater than 45 AU. The limiting magnitude of this study was 21.3 in the R-band, it was sensitive out to distances of 1000 AU, and 12,000 square degrees of sky were searched. This observing program was responsible for the discovery of 25 minor planets including trans-Neptunian objects and centaurs. and Gǃkúnǁʼhòmdímà () were among the objects discovered by this survey.
', also known by its OSSOS survey designation uo3L91', is a trans-Neptunian object discovered on September 29, 2013 by the Outer Solar System Origins Survey using the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory. This object orbits the Sun between , and has a barycentric orbital period of nearly 20,000 years. It has the second largest semi-major axis yet detected for an orbit with a perihelion beyond the zone of strong influence of Neptune , second only to 541132 Leleākūhonua, but exceeding the semi-major axes of , and . has one of highest perihelion of any known extreme trans-Neptunian object, behind sednoids including Sedna (76 AU), (80 AU), and Leleākūhonua (65 AU).
In 1980, in his paper On the existence of a comet belt beyond Neptune, Fernández proposed that periodic comets arrived too frequently into the inner Solar System to be accounted for solely by having arrived from the Oort cloud, and that a trans-Neptunian belt of comets at around 50 AU would be required to explain them. Subsequent computer models by Martin Duncan, Tom Quinn and Scott Tremaine in Canada supported the view, and led eventually to the discovery of the Kuiper belt. Many astronomers, including David Jewitt, who discovered the belt, believe that Fernández deserves more credit than anyone else, including Gerard Kuiper, for predicting its existence. He has subsequently published many papers on the trans-Neptunian population.
It is one a small number of detached objects with perihelion distances of 30 AU or more, and semi-major axes of 250 AU or more. Such objects cannot reach such orbits without some perturbing object, which has led to the Planet Nine hypothesis, that a massive trans-Neptunian planet is the perturber. However is an interesting outlier of these trans- Neptunian objects that make one of the lines of evidence for Planet Nine. Unlike the others, the shape of whose orbits (longitudes of perihelion) either cluster in anti-alignment with the modeled orbit of Planet Nine or cluster in alignment with it, 's major axis is almost at a right angle to that of the putative planet.
The mass distribution of the Neptunian moons is the most lopsided of the satellite systems of the giant planets in the Solar System. One moon, Triton, makes up nearly all of the mass of the system, with all other moons together comprising only one third of one percent. This is similar to the moon system of Saturn, where Titan makes up more than 95% of the total mass, but is different from the more balanced systems of Jupiter and Uranus. The reason for the lopsidedness of the present Neptunian system is that Triton was captured well after the formation of Neptune's original satellite system, much of which would have been destroyed in the process of capture.
In 2014, astronomers announced the discovery of , a large object with a Sedna-like 4,200-year orbit and a perihelion of roughly 80 AU, which led them to suggest that it offered evidence of a potential trans- Neptunian planet. Trujillo and Sheppard argued that the orbital clustering of arguments of perihelia for VP113 and other extremely distant TNOs suggests the existence of a "super-Earth" of between 2 and 15 Earth masses beyond 200 AU and possibly on an inclined orbit at 1500 AU. In 2014 astronomers at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid suggested that the available data actually indicate more than one trans-Neptunian planet; subsequent work further suggests that the evidence is robust enough.
This minor planet was named after Joseph A. Burns (born 1941), American planetary scientist and astronomer at Cornell University in New York, and a co- discoverer of the trans-Neptunian object at Palomar in 1997. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 4 August 1982 ().
Several minor planets have been discovered by DeCam in the course of The Dark Energy Survey. It is particularly well suited for finding high inclination trans-neptunian objects (TNOs). The process has several steps. First, analysis of the wide field images reveals transient objects that are found by image subtraction.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and scattered disc object in the outermost part of the Solar System. It was first observed on 19 September 2014 by astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo at Cerro Tololo Observatory, Chile, and revealed on 29 August 2016. It currently has a magnitude of 24.18.
' is a trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc in the outermost region of the Solar System and measures approximately 460 kilometers in diameter. It was first observed by American astronomers David Rabinowitz, Megan Schwamb, and Suzanne Tourtellotte at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile on 2 October 2010.
Sedna was discovered by a team using the Samuel Oschin telescope on 14 November 2003 and is a trans-Neptunian object. It has an orbit of 11,250 years, so stays in a sign for approximately a millennium. Because this planet has recently been discovered, not much is yet known about it.
Neptune. Processed image from Voyager 2s narrow-angle camera 16 or 17 of August 1989. Neptune's south pole is at the bottom of the image. The exploration of Neptune has only begun with one spacecraft, Voyager 2 in 1989. there are no approved future missions to visit the Neptunian system.
', provisional designation , is a resonant trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc, with a semi-major axis of approximately 110 AU and in a rare orbital resonance ratio with Neptune. It was discovered on 13 August 2004, by American astronomer Marc Buie at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.
Since then nearly 100 trans-Neptunian binaries have been discovered. ' is also one of the most symmetrical binaries known in the Solar System. The satellite has a highly eccentric orbit of approximately 0.8 with an exceptionally long orbital period of 587 days and a semi-major axis of 22,620 kilometers.
' is a trans-Neptunian object that was discovered on April 13, 2004 by NEAT. It has been listed as a cubewano by the Minor Planet Center. Brown estimates that is very likely a dwarf planet. A diameter of has been determined from combined observations of the Herschel and Spitzer space telescopes.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object and weak dwarf-planet candidate from the classical Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was first observed on 6 February 2002, by American astronomer Marc Buie at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, United States.
On August 20 the Voyager 2 space probe launched by NASA to study the Jovian system, Saturnian system, Uranian system, Neptunian system, the Kuiper belt, the heliosphere and the interstellar space. On September 5 The Voyager 1 space probe launched by NASA to study the Jovian system, Saturnian system and the interstellar medium.
' is an exceptionally eccentric trans-Neptunian object and damocloid on an orbit typical of long-period comets but one that showed no sign of cometary activity around the time it was discovered. The unusual object measures approximately in diameter and has a rotation period of 35.4 hours and likely an elongated shape.
', provisionally known as , is a resonant trans-Neptunian object that resides in the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on August 19, 2001 by Marc W. Buie. is a plutino, meaning that it is locked in a 3:2 orbital resonance with Neptune, much like Pluto.
', provisionally known as , is a trans-Neptunian object that resides in the scattered disc region beyond the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on 9 September 2005, by American astronomers Andrew Becker, Andrew Puckett and Jeremy Kubica at Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico. It measures approximately 500-600 kilometers in diameter.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and suspected member of the Haumea family, located in the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 24 October 2003, by astronomers of the Spacewatch survey project at Kitt Peak Observatory, Arizona. The object may also be a non-resonant cubewano.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 25 August 2012, by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States. The weak dwarf planet candidate was numbered in 2017 and remains without a name.
', is a resonant trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. The reddish plutino measures approximately in diameter. It was first observed on 9 October 1999, by American astronomer Scott Sheppard at the Mauna Kea Observatories with the University of Hawaii 2.2-meter telescope.
' is a trans-Neptunian object, both considered a scattered and detached object, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. The object with a moderately inclined and eccentric orbit measures approximately in diameter. It was first observed on 24 May 2015, by astronomers at the Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii, United States.
See "Neptune:In Depth" from NASA. Proteus The fly-by of the Neptunian system provided the first accurate measurement of Neptune's mass which was found to be 0.5 percent less than previously calculated. The new figure disproved the hypothesis that an undiscovered Planet X acted upon the orbits of Neptune and Uranus.Tom Standage (2000).
' is a high-order resonant trans-Neptunian object and a likely dwarf-planet candidate from the outermost regions of the Solar System, approximately 700 kilometers in diameter. Long-term observations suggest that the object is in a meta-stable 5:21 resonance with Neptune. Other sources classify it as a scattered disc object.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object from the classical Kuiper belt located in the outermost region of the Solar System. The cubewano belongs to the orbitally unexcited cold population. It was discovered on 15 April 1994, by astronomers David Jewitt and Jun Chen at the Mauna Kea Observatories, near Hilo, Hawaii.
', provisionally known as 2001 KU76', is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) that has a possible 6:11 resonance with Neptune. It will come to perihelion in 2021. Assuming a generic TNO albedo of 0.09, it is about 211 km in diameter. The assumed diameter of this object makes it a possible dwarf planet.
Before starting her PhD she completed a summer school in Castel Gandolfo. She earned her PhD in 2014, working on trans Neptunian objects at the Australian National University. She searched for new dwarf planets at the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope. The telescope survived the Warrumbungles fire which destroyed twelve properties in Coonabarabran.
In 2005, the Gemini and Keck telescopes obtained spectra of Haumea which showed strong crystalline water ice features similar to the surface of Pluto's moon Charon. This is peculiar, because crystalline ice forms at temperatures above 110 K, whereas Haumea's surface temperature is below 50 K, a temperature at which amorphous ice is formed. In addition, the structure of crystalline ice is unstable under the constant rain of cosmic rays and energetic particles from the Sun that strike trans-Neptunian objects. The timescale for the crystalline ice to revert to amorphous ice under this bombardment is on the order of ten million years, yet trans-Neptunian objects have been in their present cold-temperature locations for timescales of billions of years.
The best-fit pole orientation of Varuna implies that it is being viewed at a near-edge on configuration, in which Varuna's equator nearly faces directly toward Earth. Varuna's rapid rotation is believed to have resulted from disruptive collisions that have sped up its rotation during the formation of the Solar System. The present collision rate in the trans-Neptunian region is minimal, though collisions were more frequent during the formation of the Solar System. However, Jewitt and Sheppard calculated that the rate of disruptive collisions among large trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) during the Solar System's formation is extremely uncommon, contradictory to the current abundance of binary and rapidly rotating TNOs that are believed to have originated from such collisions.
Distribution of trans-Neptunian objects Eris is a trans-Neptunian dwarf planet (plutoid). Its orbital characteristics more specifically categorize it as a scattered-disk object (SDO), or a TNO that has been "scattered" from the Kuiper belt into more-distant and unusual orbits following gravitational interactions with Neptune as the Solar System was forming. Although its high orbital inclination is unusual among the known SDOs, theoretical models suggest that objects that were originally near the inner edge of the Kuiper belt were scattered into orbits with higher inclinations than objects from the outer belt. Because Eris was initially thought to be larger than Pluto, it was described as the "tenth planet" by NASA and in media reports of its discovery.
This area receives strong irradiation from the star, meaning the planets do not retain their gaseous atmosphere as they evaporate leaving just a rocky core. As Neptune-sized planets should be easier to find in short- period orbits, and many sufficiently massive planets have been discovered with longer orbits from surveys such as CoRoT and Kepler. The physical mechanisms that result in the observed Neptunian Desert are currently unknown, but have been suggested to be due to a different formation mechanism for short-period super Earth, and Jovian exoplanets, similar to the reasons for the brown dwarf desert. The exoplanet NGTS-4b, with mass of 20 , and a radius 20% smaller than Neptune, was found to still have an atmosphere while orbiting within the 'Neptunian Desert'.
In 2008 Tadashi Mukai and Patryk Sofia Lykawka suggested a distant Mars- or Earth-sized planet, currently in a highly eccentric orbit between 100 and and orbital period of 1000 years with an inclination of 20° to 40°, was responsible for the structure of the Kuiper belt. They proposed that the perturbations of this planet excited the eccentricities and inclinations of the trans-Neptunian objects, truncated the planetesimal disk at 48 AU, and detached the orbits of objects like Sedna from Neptune. During Neptune's migration this planet is posited to have been captured in an outer resonance of Neptune and to have evolved into a higher perihelion orbit due to the Kozai mechanism leaving the remaining trans-Neptunian objects on stable orbits.
Distribution of trans-Neptunian objects, with semi-major axis on the horizontal, and inclination on the vertical axis. Scattered disc objects are shown in grey, objects that are in resonance with Neptune in red. Classical Kuiper belt objects (cubewanos) and sednoids are blue and yellow, respectively. The scattered disc is a very dynamic environment.
In 2012, measurements from the Herschel Space Observatory suggested that Sedna's diameter was , which would make it smaller than Pluto's moon Charon. Because Sedna has no known moons, determining its mass is currently impossible without sending a space probe. Sedna is currently the largest trans-Neptunian Sun-orbiting object not known to have a satellite.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and centaur from the scattered disk and/or inner Oort cloud, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. The object with a highly eccentric orbit of 0.99 was first observed by astronomers with the Spacewatch program at Steward Observatory on 31 March 2009. It measures approximately in diameter.
Haumea's elongated shape together with its rapid rotation, rings, and high albedo (from a surface of crystalline water ice), are thought to be the consequences of a giant collision, which left Haumea the largest member of a collisional family that includes several large trans-Neptunian objects and Haumea's two known moons, Hiʻiaka and Namaka.
', provisional designation , is a classical trans-Neptunian object and dwarf planet candidate from the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. The cubewano belongs to the hot population. It was discovered on 26 July 2011, by astronomers with the Pan- STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States.
', also written (118228) 1996 TQ66', is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) that resides in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on October 8, 1996, by Chad Trujillo, David C. Jewitt. Jane X. Luu, and Jun Chen. It is in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune similar to Pluto, which classifies it as a plutino.
Caju orbits the Sun at a distance of 35.2–821 AU once every 8856 years (3,234,488 days; semi-major axis of 428 AU). Its orbit has an exceptionally high eccentricity of 0.92 and an inclination of 54° with respect to the ecliptic. This makes it a probable outlier among the known extreme trans-Neptunian objects.
It is one of a small group of extreme trans- Neptunian objects with perihelion distances of 30 AU or more, and semi-major axes of 150 AU or more. Such objects can not have reached their present-day orbits without the gravitational influence of some perturbing object, which lead to the speculation of planet nine.
Mike Brown, 2012. How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming Historically, the terms asteroid, minor planet, and planetoid have been more or less synonymous. This terminology has become more complicated by the discovery of numerous minor planets beyond the orbit of Jupiter, especially trans-Neptunian objects that are generally not considered asteroids.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc in the outermost Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 9 May 2010 by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS-1 survey at the Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, in the United States. According to American astronomer Michael Brown, it is "possibly" a dwarf planet.
', provisional designation ', is a trans-Neptunian object and member of the classical Kuiper belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 1 November 2010, by the Pan-STARRS 1 survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States. The "likely" dwarf planet has a rotation period of 7.6 hours. It was numbered in September 2018 and remains unnamed.
He is also a brilliant doctor and a mathematician. In All-Star Comics #13, he is able to communicate with a Neptunian using mathematical equations. As Starman, McNider uses various star-themed gadgets, including an airship designed by the Red Torpedo. McNider is also a superb athlete and fighter, as well as a gifted physician and author.
90482 Orcus, provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object with a large moon, Vanth. With a diameter of , it is a possible dwarf planet. The surface of Orcus is relatively bright with albedo reaching 23 percent, neutral in color and rich in water ice. The ice is predominantly in crystalline form, which may be related to past cryovolcanic activity.
' is a trans-Neptunian object orbiting beyond Pluto in the Kuiper belt of the outermost Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 8 October 1996, by astronomers David Jewitt, Chad Trujillo, Jane Luu, and Jun Chen at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii, in the United States. It was the first discovery of a twotino.
', provisional designation , is a resonant trans-Neptunian object and possible dwarf planet from the circumstellar disc of the Kuiper belt in the outer Solar System, approximately 440 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 10 February 1999, by astronomers Jane Luu, David Jewitt and Chad Trujillo at Mauna Kea Observatories on the Big Island of Hawaii, United States.
The Lassell ring, also known as the plateau, is the broadest ring in the Neptunian system. It is the namesake of William Lassell, the English astronomer who discovered Neptune's largest moon, Triton. This ring is a faint sheet of material occupying the space between the Le Verrier ring at about 53,200 km and the Arago ring at 57,200 km.
', also written as 2003 UZ413', is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) with an absolute magnitude of 4.38. It is in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune, thus it is classified as a plutino. It is likely large enough to be a dwarf planet. It was given the minor planet number 455502 on 22 February 2016.
Plutinos form the inner part of the Kuiper belt and represent about a quarter of the known Kuiper belt objects. They are also the most populous known class of resonant trans-Neptunian objects (also see adjunct box with hierarchical listing). Aside from Pluto itself, the first plutino, (385185) 1993 RO, was discovered on September 16, 1993.
Guliyev has predicted the imminent opening of the Neptunian rings before their discovered. He studied the phenomenon of decrease of the absolute brightness of comets, studied and interpreted the distribution of long-period comets nodes and aphelion. Guliyev is an author of over 170 scientific articles, including three books. The minor planet 18749 Ayyubguliev is named after him.
', provisional designation ', is a trans-Neptunian object in the scattered disc located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 11 July 2010 by the Pan-STARRS-1 survey at the Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, in the United States. American astronomer Michael Brown considers it a "highly likely" dwarf planet.
' is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) and weak dwarf planet candidate. It was discovered by Slovak astronomer Tomáš Vorobjov from images taken on the night of 19 April 2012, at the Astronomical Research Institute in Illinois, United States. The object has been observed forty-two times over two oppositions. It is currently 29.8 AU from the Sun.
', provisional designation ', is a trans-Neptunian object and likely dwarf planet, located in the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 16 March 2013, by American astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo at the CTIO in Chile. Numbered in 2018, this minor planet has not been named.
' (prov. designation: ) is a trans-Neptunian object and a dwarf-planet candidate from the scattered disc, located in the outermost region of the Solar System, that measures approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 25 January 2014, by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory on the island of Maui, Hawaii, in the United States.
' is a trans-Neptunian object of the scattered disc orbiting in the outermost regions of the Solar System. It measures approximately in diameter and is a strong dwarf-planet candidate. The object was first observed on 9 September 2010, by American astronomers David Rabinowitz, Megan Schwamb and Suzanne Tourtellotte at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile.
', provisionally designated , is a trans-Neptunian object and possible dwarf planet residing in the outer Kuiper belt. It was discovered on October 22, 2014, by the Mount Lemmon Survey. It is listed on Mike Brown's website as a probable dwarf planet, ranked 67th most likely. It is approximately the size of 2 Pallas in the asteroid belt.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and highly eccentric centaur on a cometary-like orbit in the outer region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered through the Sloan Digital Sky Survey by astronomers Andrew Becker, Andrew Puckett and Jeremy Kubica on images first taken on 27 September 2006 (with precovery images dated to 13 September 2005).
The main belt evolution after the Late Heavy Bombardment was very likely affected by the passages of large Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Centaurs and TNOs that reach the inner Solar System can modify the orbits of main belt asteroids, though only if their mass is of the order of for single encounters or, one order less in case of multiple close encounters. However Centaurs and TNOs are unlikely to have significantly dispersed young asteroid families in the main belt, but they can have perturbed some old asteroid families. Current main belt asteroids that originated as Centaurs or trans-Neptunian objects may lie in the outer belt with short lifetime of less than 4 million years, most likely between 2.8 and 3.2 AU at larger eccentricities than typical of main belt asteroid.
Dale P. Cruikshank is an astronomer and planetary scientist in the Astrophysics Branch at NASA Ames Research Center. His research specialties are spectroscopy and radiometry of planets and small bodies in the Solar System. These small bodies include comets, asteroids, planetary satellites, dwarf planets (e.g., Pluto), and objects in the region beyond Neptune (Kuiper belt objects and trans-Neptunian bodies).
' is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) and possible dwarf planet orbiting in the scattered disc. As of October 2018, it was approximately from the Sun, and will slowly decrease in distance until it reaches its perihelion of 38 AU sometime near 2142. The discoverers have nicknamed it "DeeDee" for "Distant Dwarf"."New dwarf planet solar system's 2nd most distant". Umich.edu.
' is a classical trans-Neptunian object and member of Haumea family from the Kuiper belt located in the outermost regions of the Solar System, approximately 300 kilometers in diameter. It was first observed on 23 September 2003, by astronomers of the Canada–France Ecliptic Plane Survey at Mauna Kea Observatories on Hawaii. The surface of is made of water ice.
' is a resonant trans-Neptunian object and binary system from the Kuiper belt in the outermost regions of the Solar System. It was discovered on 16 September 1998, by American astronomer Nichole Danzl at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. It is classified as a twotino and measures approximately 280 kilometers in diameter. Its minor-planet moon was discovered in 2001.
The orbit of compared to Pluto and Neptune has a semi- major axis (average distance from the Sun) near the edge of the classical belt. The Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) list this trans-Neptunian object as a twotino that stays in a 1:2 orbital resonance with the planet Neptune (for every one orbit that a twotino makes, Neptune orbits twice).
' is a trans-Neptunian object on an eccentric orbit in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 16 May 1999, by French astronomer Audrey Delsanti and Oliver Hainaut at ESOs La Silla Observatory in northern Chile. The very reddish object is a dwarf planet candidate and has a rotation period of 11.7 hours.
Such clustering could be explained if they were disturbed by an unseen object at least as large as Jupiter, possibly a brown dwarf, located in the outer part of the Oort cloud. They also suggested that such an object might explain the trans-Neptunian object Sedna's peculiar orbit. However, the sample size of Oort comets was small and the results were inconclusive.
In Bender's Big Score, he assisted the Earth's population in reclaiming their planet after it was purchased by the devious Scammers, forcing his Neptunian elves to build weapons for an assault and participating personally in the ensuing battle. He is part of an alliance called The Trinity, a trio of holiday-themed madmen, comprising himself, Kwanzaabot, and the Chanukah Zombie in the song.
', provisional designation , is a resonant trans-Neptunian object of the plutino group, located in the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System. The rather bluish body measures approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 22 October 1998, by American astronomer Marc Buie at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in the United States. It is probably not a dwarf planet candidate.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object and centaur on highly inclined and eccentric orbit in the outer region of the Solar System. It measures approximately in diameter and is one of few objects with such an unusual orbit. It was discovered on 4 December 2002, by American astronomer Marc Buie at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, United States.
Simon F. Green is an astronomer. He is a Senior Lecturer in Planetary and Space Science at the Open University. He specializes in the study of asteroids and trans-Neptunian objects, and for a long time worked with the IRAS satellite to detect fast moving objects. In 1983, along with John K. Davies, he discovered the Apollo asteroid 3200 Phaethon.
The current system of provisional designation of minor planets (asteroids, centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects) has been in place since 1925, and superseded several previous conventions, each of which was rendered obsolete by the increasing numbers of minor planet discoveries. A modern or new-style provisional designation consists of the year of discovery, followed by two letters and, optionally, a suffixed number.
Near the altitude it reaches , and then slowly decreases. Pluto is the only trans-Neptunian object with a known atmosphere. Its closest analog is the atmosphere of Triton, although in some aspects it resembles even the atmosphere of Mars. The atmosphere of Pluto has been studied since the 1980s by way of earth-based observation of occultations of stars by Pluto and spectroscopy.
'174567 Varda (provisional designation ') is a binary trans-Neptunian object of the resonant hot classical population of the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. Its moon, Ilmarë, was discovered in 2009. Brown estimates that, with an absolute magnitude of 3.5 and a calculated diameter of approximately , it is likely a dwarf planet. However, Grundy et al.
Discovered in 1996 by David C. Jewitt et al., it was the first object to be categorized as a scattered-disk object (SDO), although , discovered a year earlier, was later recognised as a scattered-disk object. It was considered one the largest known trans-Neptunian objects at the time of the discovery, being placed second after Pluto. It came to perihelion in 2001.
Haumea may not be the only elongated, rapidly rotating, large object in the Kuiper belt. In 2002, Jewitt and Sheppard suggested that should be elongated, based on its rapid rotation. In the early history of the Solar System, the trans- Neptunian region would have contained many more objects than it does at present, increasing the likelihood of collisions between objects.
', provisional designation ' is a trans-Neptunian object and centaur located in the outermost region of the Solar System. With an absolute magnitude of 5.7, it approximately measures in diameter. It was discovered on 4 August 2010 by the Pan-STARRS-1 survey at the Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, in the United States. According to American astronomer Michael Brown, it is "possibly" a dwarf planet.
' is a trans-Neptunian object, both considered a scattered and detached object, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was first observed on 17 March 2013, by a team of astronomers at the Cerro Tololo Inter- American Observatory in Chile. It orbits the Sun in a moderate inclined, moderate-eccentricity orbit. The weak dwarf planet candidate measures approximately in diameter.
The most obvious solution to determining Sedna's peculiar orbit would be to locate a number of objects in a similar region, whose various orbital configurations would provide an indication as to their history. If Sedna had been pulled into its orbit by a trans-Neptunian planet, any other objects found in its region would have a similar perihelion to Sedna (around 80 AU).
In astronomy, the plutinos are a dynamical group of trans-Neptunian objects that orbit in 2:3 mean-motion resonance with Neptune. This means that for every two orbits a plutino makes, Neptune orbits three times. The dwarf planet Pluto is the largest member as well as the namesake of this group. Plutinos are named after mythological creatures associated with the underworld.
53311 Deucalion , provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object from the classical Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately . The cubewano belongs to the cold population and was discovered on 18 April 1999, by the Deep Ecliptic Survey at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, United States. It was named after Deucalion, from Greek mythology.
Exploring the comet systems, Guliyev has found more than 50 new regularities. He studied the question of the interaction of comets and planets, has predicted an existence of unknown planetary bodies in the trans-neptunian zone. Guliyev has advanced a new theory on the origin of short-perihelion comet groups. Jointly with S. K.Vsekhsvyatsky he has predicted tectonic activity of moons of Uranus.
', provisional designation ', is a trans-Neptunian object and centaur, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 16 May 2013, by the Pan-STARRS 1 survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States. The object's orbit is highly inclined and very eccentric, with a perihelion closer to the Sun than Uranus and at an aphelion 17 times farther from the Sun than Neptune.
' is a trans-Neptunian object orbiting the Sun as a detached object in the outer reaches of the Solar System. It is likely a dwarf planet as it measures approximately 600 kilometers in diameter. The object was first observed on 21 May 2010 by astronomers Andrzej Udalski, Scott Sheppard, M. Szymanski and Chad Trujillo at the Las Campañas Observatory in Chile.
Yuri Krugly is known primarily for astrometric studies (measurements of the brightness) of asteroids and Trans-Neptunian objects. In particular, he obtained the light curves and determined the rotation periods of many asteroids. Thanks to this, he co-authored the discovery of the Yarkovsky–O'Keefe–Radzievskii–Paddac (YORP) acceleration of asteroids 1620 Geographos, 1862 Apollo, 3103 Eger. He also discovered several binary asteroids.
', provisionally known as , is a trans-Neptunian object. It is an inner classical Kuiper belt object in the definition by Gladman, Marsden, and Van Laerhoven (e<0.24).Nomenclature in the outer Solar System Its inclination of almost 25 degrees disqualifies it as such in Marc Buie's definition. It is also not listed as a scattered disc object by the Minor Planet Center.
', provisional designation ', is a trans-Neptunian object and damocloid from the outer Solar System. Its orbit is retrograde and comet-like, and has a high eccentricity. It was discovered on 4 September 2002 by astronomers with the LONEOS survey at Anderson Mesa Station, Arizona, in the United States. The unusual object measures approximately in diameter and is likely elongated in shape.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and retrograde damocloid on a highly eccentric, cometary-like orbit. It was first observed on 3 June 2006 by the Mount Lemmon Survey at the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona, United States. The orbit of is highly uncertain as its observation arc is only spans 2 days. measures approximately in diameter, assuming a low albedo of 0.09.
With an orbital period of 500 years, and similar to , it seems to be a resonant trans-Neptunian objects in a 1:3 resonance with Neptune, as several other objects, but with a lower eccentricity (0.27 instead of more than 0.60) and a higher perihelia (at 45.8 AU rather than 31–41 AU). ' seems to belong to the same group as .
FarFarOut is the nickname of a trans-Neptunian object discovered well beyond from the Sun. Imaged in January 2018 during a search for the hypothetical Planet Nine, the object was announced in a press release on February 21, 2019, by astronomers Scott Sheppard, David Tholen, and Chad Trujillo, when they nicknamed it "FarFarOut" to emphasize its distance from the Sun.
The first astronomer to suggest the existence of a trans-Neptunian population was Frederick C. Leonard. Soon after Pluto's discovery by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, Leonard pondered whether it was "not likely that in Pluto there has come to light the first of a series of ultra-Neptunian bodies, the remaining members of which still await discovery but which are destined eventually to be detected". That same year, astronomer Armin O. Leuschner suggested that Pluto "may be one of many long-period planetary objects yet to be discovered." Astronomer Gerard Kuiper, after whom the Kuiper belt is named In 1943, in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Kenneth Edgeworth hypothesized that, in the region beyond Neptune, the material within the primordial solar nebula was too widely spaced to condense into planets, and so rather condensed into a myriad of smaller bodies.
Caju fits into the group of extreme trans- Neptunian objects that originally led to the prediction of Planet Nine. The group consists of more than a dozen bodies with a perihelion greater than 30 AU and a semi-major axis greater than 250 AU, with Caju having the highest orbital inclination of any of these objects. Subsequently, unrefereed work by de la Fuente Marcos (2018) found that Caju current orbital orientation in space is not easily explained by the same mechanism that keeps other extreme trans-Neptunian objects together, suggesting that the clustering in its orbital angles cannot be attributed to Planet Nine's influence. However, regardless of the current direction of its orbit, its high orbital inclination appears to fit into the class of high-semi major axis, high-inclination objects predicted by Batygin & Morbedelli (2017) to be generated by Planet Nine.
' is a trans-Neptunian object first observed on 26 March 2014, at Cerro Tololo Observatory, La Serena. It is a possible dwarf planet, a member of the scattered disc, whose orbit extends into the inner Oort cloud. Discovered by Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo, the object's existence was revealed on 29 August 2016. Both the orbital period and aphelion distance of this object are poorly constrained.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) notes five in particular: in the inner Solar System and four in the trans-Neptunian region: , , , and , the last two of which were accepted as dwarf planets for naming purposes. Only Pluto is confirmed as a dwarf planet, and it has also been declared one by the IAU independently of whether it meets the IAU definition of a dwarf planet.
This hypothesis of migration after formation is favoured, due to its ability to better explain the occupancy of the populations of small objects observed in the trans-Neptunian region. The current most widely accepted explanation of the details of this hypothesis is known as the Nice model, which explores the effect of a migrating Neptune and the other giant planets on the structure of the Kuiper belt.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and binary system of the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. The cubewano was discovered at the Mauna Kea Observatories on 27 July 2001, by JJ Kavelaars, Jean-Marc Petit, Brett Gladman, and Matthew Holman. Later in 2001, Kavelaars discovered that it is a binary system. The diameter of the two components are estimated at about and .
Robert L. Hurt is a member of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) at the California Institute of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from University of California, Los Angeles. Hurt produced the first published artist concepts of the Trans-Neptunian object 90377 Sedna, from data obtained by the Spitzer Space Telescope. His work has been used by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Elzar (voiced by John DiMaggio) is a famous four-armed Neptunian chef with his own New New York restaurant, "Elzar's Fine Cuisine", and television show. Elzar is rude, crass, and unpleasant, and has a very high opinion of himself. He never passes up an opportunity to milk money from his customers and fans. He has also been known to steal from his own cash register on occasion.
' is an extreme trans-Neptunian object, detached, on a highly eccentric orbit in the outermost region of the Solar System. It measures approximately in diameter and is "possibly" a dwarf planet. It was first observed on 8 September 2015, by astronomers with Outer Solar System Origins Survey using the 3.6-meter Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, in the United States.
It is also the largest object that has not been visited by a spacecraft. Eris has been measured at in diameter. Its mass is 0.27 percent that of the Earth and 127 percent that of dwarf planet Pluto, though Pluto is slightly larger by volume. Eris is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) and a member of a high-eccentricity population known as the scattered disk.
Current IAU practice for newly discovered Neptunian moons is to accord with these first two choices by naming them after Greek sea deities. For the "normal" irregular satellites, the general convention is to use names ending in "a" for prograde satellites, names ending in "e" for retrograde satellites, and names ending in "o" for exceptionally inclined satellites, exactly like the convention for the moons of Jupiter.
Leleākūhonua orbits the Sun at a distance of once roughly every 32,000 years (semi-major axis of ~1080 AU). Its orbit has a very high eccentricity of 0.94 and an inclination of with respect to the ecliptic. It belongs to the extreme trans-Neptunian objects defined by their large semi-major axis and is the third sednoid ever to be discovered, after and ("Biden").
'. (Terrence "Terry" Drake, in English) . Daiba is the audience surrogate, the viewer's gateway to Harlock's world. The 14-year-old son of a scientist who was killed by the Mazone, he joined the Arcadia crew following the death of his father. He lost his mother in a disaster on the Neptunian moon Triton when her pleas for help were ignored by the indifferent government.
'469705 ǂKá̦gára, official designation ', is a trans-Neptunian object and binary system of the core Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 2005 March 11 by Marc William Buie at Kitt Peak Observatory. The primary body measures perhaps in diameter. Its ≈120-kilometer (75-mile) companion ǃHãunu was discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009.
The first precovery was taken at the Australian Siding Spring Observatory during the Digitized Sky Survey in 1984, extending the body's observation arc by 23 years prior to its discovery observation. It came to perihelion around 1888. Based on an absolute magnitude of 4.5 and assuming a generic albedo for trans-Neptunian objects of 0.09, it is about in diameter, which makes it likely a dwarf planet.
58534 Logos, or as a binary system (58534) Logos-Zoe, is a trans-Neptunian object and binary system from the classical Kuiper belt, approximately . The bright cubewano belonged to the cold population and has a 66-kilometer sized companion named Zoe. The system mass is . In the Gnostic tradition, Logos and Zoe are a paired emanation of the deity, and part of its creation myth.
Other areas he worked on were star parallax, the measuring of variable stars, the color of stars, and the observation of comets, sunspots, and the ring of Saturn. He also published speculative orbits of two trans-Neptunian planets in 1900, which were never found. He died prematurely at the age of 39 during the worldwide 1918 flu pandemic. A crater on Mars was named in his honor.
' is a trans-Neptunian object orbiting in the scattered disc, approximately 533 kilometers in diameter. It was first observed on 25 March 2014, by astronomers at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Because of its great distance and short observation arc of 302 days, the object's orbit is too poorly determined to know whether it is in an orbital resonance with Neptune.
', provisional designation , is a 1:6 resonant trans-Neptunian object and dwarf planet candidate located in the outermost region of the Solar System that takes almost a thousand years to complete an orbit around the Sun. It was discovered on 24 September 2008 by American astronomers Megan Schwamb, Michael Brown and David Rabinowitz at the Palomar Observatory in California, with no known earlier precovery images.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object and binary system from the classical Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. The cubewano belongs to the cold population and measures approximately . It was first observed on 10 December 2001, by astronomers at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii. Its 140-kilometer sized companion was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in June 2006.
This minor planet was named in honor of American Marc William Buie (born 1958), an astronomer at the discovering Lowell Observatory and a prolific discoverer of minor planets including several trans-Neptunian objects. His contributions to planetary astronomy also include research on the moons of Pluto and the development of widely used astronomical software. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 28 July 1999 ().
Throughout antiquity, there have been many Classical Planets, once "wandering stars", not all of which are now considered planets. With the advent of the telescope, the moons initially discovered around Jupiter and Saturn, were also considered planets by some. The development of more powerful telescopes resulted in the discovery of the asteroids, the first many of which were initially considered planets. Then Pluto was discovered, the first Trans- Neptunian Object.
Clyde Tombaugh, "The Last Word", Letters to the Editor, Sky & Telescope, December 1994, p. 8 The term "trans-Neptunian object" (TNO) is recommended for objects in the belt by several scientific groups because the term is less controversial than all others—it is not an exact synonym though, as TNOs include all objects orbiting the Sun past the orbit of Neptune, not just those in the Kuiper belt.
The orbits of the three known sednoids with Neptune's 30 AU circular orbit is in blue. The apparent magnitudes of the three known sednoids. Sedna, the eponymous and first known sednoid A sednoid is a trans-Neptunian object with a perihelion well beyond the Kuiper cliff at . Only three objects are known from this population: 90377 Sedna, , and 541132 Leleākūhonua (), but it is suspected that there are many more.
At a corporation's base on the Neptunian moon Triton, mercenaries are setting up a defense perimeter to try to hold off an unstoppable cyborg warrior. The commander Saggs and scientist Nabel seal themselves inside the control room. The cyborg destroys the soldiers' tank and then attacks a helicopter, which crashes into the control room. The soldiers are killed one by one, until Nabel finally deactivates the cyborg with a remote control.
It is listed as a sednoid by some. However, is usually considered to be an extreme trans-Neptunian object and not a sednoid, due to its high eccentricity which makes the heliocentric orbit unstable. In the heliocentric reference frame, the perihelion is currently rising, and the nominal orbit has a perihelion distance above only since October 2018. is estimated to be about in diameter and moderately red in color.
', also written as 2002 KX14', is a medium sized trans-Neptunian object (TNO) residing within the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on 17 May 2002 by Michael E. Brown and Chad Trujillo. It has a semi-major axis, orbital period and orbital eccentricity close to that of a plutino. The orbital periods of plutinos cluster around 247.2 years (1.5 times Neptune's orbital period), close to 's orbital period.
The orbit of 2003 QX113 compared to those of Pluto and Neptune. When was first discovered, it was estimated to have an absolute magnitude (H) of 4.9, giving it an assumed size of only in diameter. As of 2010, is estimated to have a brighter absolute magnitude (H) of 4.7. Assuming it is a trans-Neptunian object with a generic albedo of 0.09, it is about in diameter.
' is a trans-Neptunian object discovered by the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking program on 14 November 2003. Like Pluto, it is in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune and is thus a plutino. Mike Brown's website lists it as "likely" a dwarf planet. However, Brown assumed that was significantly larger than it really is, and analysis of its light-curve suggests that it may not be in the hydrostatic equilibrium.
These are small icy bodies with orbits between those of Jupiter and Neptune. Astronomers believe that Centaurs have been recently perturbed inward from the Kuiper belt, a disk of Trans-Neptunian Objects occupying a region extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. Frequent perturbations by Jupiter will likely accumulate and cause the comet to migrate either inward or outward by the year 4000.
20000 Varuna, provisional designation , is a large trans-Neptunian object and a possible dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered in December 2000 by American astronomer Robert McMillan during a Spacewatch survey at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. It has an elongated shape due to its rapid rotation. It is named after the Hindu deity Varuna, one of the oldest deities mentioned in the Vedic texts.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and centaur from the scattered disk and Inner Oort cloud approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. Using an epoch of February 2017, it is the minor planet with the 5th largest heliocentric semi-major axis in the Solar System (larger ones include , , and ). has a barycentric semi- major axis of ~964 AU, which is the third largest barycentric semi-major axis of any minor planet.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object of the scattered disc, orbiting the Sun in the outermost region of the Solar System. With a diameter of approximately 450 kilometers, it is possibly a dwarf planet. It was discovered on 11 November 2010, by American astronomers David Rabinowitz, Megan Schwamb and Suzanne Tourtellotte at ESO's La Silla Observatory site in northern Chile, when it was 38 AU from the Sun.
', provisionally known as , is a resonant trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt located in the outermost regions of the Solar System. It measures approximately 291 kilometers in diameter. It has more carbon than typical of KBOs, and the first to be confirmed as having this composition in this region of space. It is thought that it had originated closer to the Sun, maybe even the main asteroid belt.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object from in the scattered disc located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 26 February 2010, by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory on the island of Maui, Hawaii, in the United States. The object is "probably" a dwarf planet as it measures approximately in diameter. It was numbered in 2018 and remains unnamed.
It was given the provisional designation , indicating that it was discovered in the second half of May 2001. Ixion was the 1,923rd object discovered in the latter half of May, as indicated by the last letter and numbers in its provisional designation. At the time of discovery, Ixion was thought to be among the largest trans-Neptunian objects in the Solar System, as implied by its high intrinsic brightness.
', provisional designation is a highly eccentric trans-Neptunian object, retrograde centaur and damocloid from the outer regions of the Solar System. It was discovered on 8 June 2013 by astronomers with the Mount Lemmon Survey at the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona, United States. The object is unlikely a dwarf planet as it measures approximately in diameter. It was numbered in 2016 and has not been named since.
' is a trans-Neptunian object, classified as a scattered and detached object, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was first observed on 24 March 2014 by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States. With its perihelion distant from Neptune, it belongs to a small and poorly understood group of objects with moderate eccentricities. The possible dwarf planet measures approximately in diameter.
Only three of Neptune's moons were photographed in detail: Proteus, Nereid, and Triton; of which the last two were the only Neptunian moons known prior to the visit. Proteus turned out to be an ellipsoid, as large as gravity allows an ellipsoid body to become without rounding into a sphere. It appeared very dark in color, almost like soot. Nereid, though discovered in 1949, still has very little known about it.
The reddish color typical of tholins is characteristic of many Trans-Neptunian objects, including plutinos in the outer Solar System such as 28978 Ixion. Spectral reflectances of Centaurs also suggest the presence of tholins on their surfaces. The New Horizons exploration of the classical Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth revealed reddish color at its surface, suggestive of tholins.NASA to Make Historic New Year's Day Flyby of Mysterious Ultima Thule.
Assuming a generic trans-Neptunian albedo of 0.09, it is about 580 kilometers in diameter. However, since the true albedo is unknown and it has an absolute magnitude of 4.4, it could easily be from about 350 to 780 km in diameter (for typical albedos of 0.05 to 0.25). Michael Brown estimates a similar diameter of 561 kilometers, also using a geometric albedo of 0.09 and a fainter 4.6 absolute magnitude.
' , provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object and binary system that resides in the Kuiper belt. It is classified as a plutino and measures approximately 100 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 14 October 2007, by American astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo with the Subaru telescope at Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii, United States. It was later named after the twins Mors and Somnus from Roman mythology.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 23 September 1998, by American astronomer Arianna Gleason at the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. The cold classical Kuiper belt object is a dwarf planet candidate, as it measures approximately in diameter. It has a grey-blue color and a rotation period of 8.8 hours.
In 2010, thermal flux from in the far-infrared was measured by the Herschel Space Telescope. As a result, its size was estimated to lie within a range from 335 to 410 km. In the visible light, has a moderately red spectral slope. The TNO was found in 2009 to have a rotation period of 12.68 ±3 hours, a common value for trans-Neptunian objects of its size.
', provisional designation , is a sub-kilometer Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was originally considered a trans-Neptunian object and lost minor planet during 2004–2012. The date of the official discovery was later set to 27 December 2009, and credited to astronomers of the Spacewatch program conducted at the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States.
2014 JM80 is located near the "gap", a poorly understood region. ' orbits the Sun at a distance of 46.0–80.2 AU once every 500 years and 11 months (182,969 days; semi-major axis of 63.07 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.27 and an inclination of 20° with respect to the ecliptic. This distant minor planet is a trans-Neptunian object and a member of the scattered disc population.
It has been calculated that the Salacia system should have undergone enough tidal evolution to circularize their orbits, which is consistent with the low measured eccentricity, but that the primary need not have been tidally locked. The ratio of its semi-major axis to its primary's Hill radius is 0.0023, the tightest trans-Neptunian binary with a known orbit. Salacia and Actaea will next occult each other in 2067.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and binary system from the classical Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. The bright cubewano belongs to the cold population and measures approximately in diameter. It was first observed at Mauna Kea Observatory on 18 July 1999. Discovered in 2005, its minor-planet moon is just 3 kilometres smaller than its primary and has an orbital period of 84 days.
For almost two centuries, from the discovery of Ceres in 1801 until the discovery of the first centaur, Chiron in 1977, all known asteroids spent most of their time at or within the orbit of Jupiter, though a few such as Hidalgo ventured far beyond Jupiter for part of their orbit. Those located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter were known for many years simply as The Asteroids. When astronomers started finding more small bodies that permanently resided further out than Jupiter, now called centaurs, they numbered them among the traditional asteroids, though there was debate over whether they should be considered asteroids or as a new type of object. Then, when the first trans-Neptunian object (other than Pluto), Albion, was discovered in 1992, and especially when large numbers of similar objects started turning up, new terms were invented to sidestep the issue: Kuiper-belt object, trans-Neptunian object, scattered-disc object, and so on.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and a possible dwarf planet located in the scattered disc. It was discovered on 30 July 2008 through the Palomar Observatory. It displays a large light curve amplitude of magnitudes, implying that it is highly elongated in shape, similar to 20000 Varuna. Based on models for its light curve amplitude, they obtained an approximate density of and aspect ratios of b/a = 0.513 and c/a = 0.39.
' is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) of the "cold" cubewano class orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper belt of the outer Solar System. It was discovered on November 8, 1994, by Alan Fitzsimmons, Donal O'Ceallaigh, and Iwan P. Williams at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, Spain. is the fourth cubewano to be given an official Minor Planet Center catalog number. The first three official cubewanos are 15760 Albion, , and .
After the Voyager 2 flyby mission, the next step in scientific exploration of the Neptunian system, is considered to be a Flagship orbital mission. Such a hypothetical mission is envisioned to be possible in the late 2020s or early 2030s. However, there have been discussions to launch Neptune missions sooner. In 2003, there was a proposal in NASA's "Vision Missions Studies" for a "Neptune Orbiter with Probes" mission that does Cassini-level science.
More than 50 binaries are known in each of the main groupings: near-Earth asteroids, belt asteroids, and trans-Neptunian objects, not including numerous claims based solely on light-curve variation. Two binaries have been found so far among centaurs with semi-major axes smaller than Neptune.Noll, Keith S. "Solar System binaries", Asteroids, Comets, Meteors, Proceedings of the 229th Symposium of the IAU, Rio de Janeiro, 2005, Cambridge University Press, 2006., pp.
Although, it can be due to changes on the Fuctuation on the Basin. Observed Mn veins and their above-proposed formation mechanism do not eliminate completely the possibility of tectonically formed Neptunian dikes elsewhere in the basin, which could well fit in the local, general tectonic environment observed, for instance in Eplény.Papp, R.Z., B.A. Topa , T. Vigh , N. Zajzon 2015: Geochemical and mineralogical study of Eplény Mn-deposit, Hungary. – Goldschmidt Abstracts, Poster board 4063, p.
A firm identification of ammonia, methane and other hydrocarbons requires better infrared spectra. Orcus sits at the threshold for trans-Neptunian objects massive enough to retain volatiles such as methane on the surface. The reflectance spectrum of Orcus shows the deepest water-ice absorption bands of any Kuiper belt object that is not associated with the Haumea collisional family. The large icy satellites of Uranus have infrared spectra quite similar to that of Orcus.
Generically, it is also classified as a trans- Neptunian object as its semi-major axis is larger than Neptune's 30.1 AU. Due to this highly inclined and eccentric orbit, and with a Tisserand's parameter of only 1.167, its cometary-like orbit resembles that of the damocloid and extended-centaur population. It is one of few objects with and inclination above 60° and a perihelion below 15 AU, along with the first discovered .
Neptune trojans are resonant trans-Neptunian objects in a 1:1 mean-motion orbital resonance with Neptune. These Trojans have a semi-major axis and an orbital period very similar to Neptune's (30.10 AU; 164.8 years). Otrera belongs to the group, which leads 60° ahead Neptune's orbit. It orbits the Sun with a semi-major axis of 30.027 AU at a distance of 29.3–30.7 AU once every 164 years and 6 months (60,099 days).
Asteroid ' is a minor planet from the outer Solar System and the first known Uranus trojan to be discovered. It measures approximately 60 kilometers in diameter, assuming an albedo of 0.05. It was first observed 29 August 2011 during a deep survey of trans-Neptunian objects conducted with the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope, but its identification as Uranian trojan was not announced until 2013. temporarily orbits near Uranus's Lagrangian point (leading Uranus).
It differs strongly from the thermal behaviour of the Uranian irregular moons that is comparable to classical trans-Neptunian objects. This suggests a separate origin. Artist's conception of the Sun's path in the summer sky of a major moon of Uranus (which shares Uranus's axial tilt) All major moons comprise approximately equal amounts rock and ice, except Miranda, which is made primarily of ice. The ice component may include ammonia and carbon dioxide.
', internally designated , and , is a trans-Neptunian object from the cold classical Kuiper belt located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It measures approximately 40 kilometers in diameter. The object was first observed by the New Horizons Search Team using the Hubble Space Telescope on 6 August 2014, and was a proposed flyby target for the New Horizons probe until 2015, when the alternative target 486958 Arrokoth was definitively selected.
Hermes threatens to cut Bender's salary since Bender has no official duties at Planet Express. Inspired by the Neptunian TV chef Elzar, Bender decides to become the ship's cook. Professor Farnsworth then sends the crew, accompanied by Amy and Dr. Zoidberg, on a delivery to the planet Trisol. After the ship lands, Fry is assigned the task of making the delivery across the desert under the heat of the planet's three suns.
654-656 in Geology, Volume 10 of the U.S. Navy Exploring Expedition 1838–1842, under the command of Charles Wilkes, C. Sherman publisher, Philadelphia, 18 volume set Terms synonymous with clastic dike include: clastic intrusion, sandstone dike, fissure fill, soft-sediment deformation, fluid escape structure, seismite, injectite, liquefaction feature, neptunian dike (passive fissure fills), paleoseismic indicator, pseudo ice wedge cast, sedimentary insertion, sheeted clastic dike, synsedimentary filling, tension fracture, hydraulic injection dike, and tempestite.
Proteus (), also known as Neptune VIII, is the second-largest Neptunian moon, and Neptune's largest inner satellite. Discovered by Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989, it is named after Proteus, the shape-changing sea god of Greek mythology. Proteus orbits Neptune in a nearly equatorial orbit at the distance of about 4.75 times the radius of Neptune's equator. Despite being a predominantly icy body more than in diameter, Proteus's shape deviates significantly from an ellipsoid.
It was not until 1999, that Pluto was further from the Sun in its trajectory. Voyager 2 studied Neptune's atmosphere, Neptune's rings, its magnetosphere, and Neptune's moons.See the "Neptune" page from JPL. The Neptunian system had been studied scientifically for many years with telescopes and indirect methods, but the close inspection by the Voyager 2 probe settled many issues and revealed a plethora of information that could not have been obtained otherwise.
ODINUS (Origins, Dynamics, and Interiors of the Neptunian and Uranian Systems) is a space mission concept proposed to the European Space Agency's Cosmic Vision programme. The ODINUS mission concept proposes to expand the Uranus orbiter and probe mission to two twin orbiters— dubbed Freyr and Freyja, the twin gods of the Norse pantheon.The ODINUS Mission Concept. White paper submitted to the European Space Agency call for L2 and L3 science themes (2013).
Neptune trojans are resonant trans-Neptunian objects in a 1:1 mean-motion orbital resonance with Neptune. These trojans have a semi-major axis and an orbital period very similar to Neptune's (30.10 AU; 164.8 years). belongs to the trailing group, which follow 60° behind Neptune's orbit. It orbits the Sun with a semi-major axis of 30.056 AU at a distance of 27.7–32.4 AU once every 164 years and 9 months (60,186 days).
Neptune trojans are resonant trans-Neptunian objects in a 1:1 mean-motion orbital resonance with Neptune. These trojans have a semi- major axis and an orbital period very similar to Neptune's (30.10 AU; 164.8 years). belongs to the leading group, which follow 60° ahead Neptune's orbit. It orbits the Sun with a semi-major axis 29.925 AU of at a distance of 29.0–30.9 AU once every 163 years and 8 months (59,793 days).
Neptune trojans can be considered resonant trans- Neptunian objects in a 1:1 mean-motion orbital resonance with Neptune. These trojans have a semi-major axis and an orbital period very similar to Neptune's (30.10 AU; 164.8 years). belongs to the leading group, which orbits 60° ahead of Neptune's orbit. It orbits the Sun with a semi-major axis of 29.926 AU at a distance of 28.1–31.7 AU once every 163 years and 9 months (59,795 days).
He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Amherst College in 1868. Of some twenty separate volumes, including sermons, verse, and fiction, his first, "The Neptunian Theory of Uranus", was published in 1848. His "Ecce Coelum, or Parish Astronomy", which was probably his best-known book, appeared in 1867, and was followed by other astronomical works. Burr died at his home in Lyme at the age of 89, survived by his wife, son, and daughter.
Luminosity studies suggest that an even larger disk exists in the PDS 110 system. Other objects have also been found to possess rings. Haumea was the first dwarf planet and Trans-Neptunian object found to possess a ring system. Centaur 10199 Chariklo, with a diameter of about , is the smallest object with rings ever discovered consisting of two narrow and dense bands, 6–7 km (4 mi) and 2–4 km (2 mi) wide, separated by a gap of .
', provisional designation , is a resonant trans-Neptunian object and possible dwarf planet located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 21 October 2001 by astronomers of the Deep Ecliptic Survey program at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, United States. The object measures approximately 600 kilometers in diameter and stays in an orbital resonance with Neptune (4:9). It has the reddest color of any object in the Solar System.
This minor planet was named for Canadian astronomer Brett J. Gladman (born 1966), discoverer of minor planets and co-discoverer of 6 irregular moons of Uranus: Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos, Stephano and Ferdinand. He participated in surveys of trans-Neptunian objects. He is also known for his research and modeling on the dynamical evolution and transport of near- Earth objects and meteorites, respectively. The approved was published by the Minor Planet Center on 28 July 1999 ().
The MPC has assigned the IAU code W84 for DeCam's observations of small Solar System bodies. As of October 2019, the MPC inconsistently credits the discovery of 9 numbered minor planets, all of them trans-Neptunian objects, to either "DeCam" or "Dark Energy Survey". The list does not contain any unnumbered minor planets potentially discovered by DeCam, as discovery credits are only given upon a body's numbering, which in turn depends on a sufficiently secure orbit determination.
Brown noted that the Spitzer measurement involved a very large potential error and that the object would likely be smaller, making its chances of it being a dwarf planet "likely" rather than "near certainty", in his opinion. The red spectra suggests that has very little fresh ice on its surface. Comparison of with selected other trans-Neptunian objects Its rotation period was initially estimated by Thirouin et al. to be 5.41 h, based on a light-curve amplitude of .
', provisional designation , is a large trans-Neptunian object of the Kuiper belt in the outermost regions of the Solar System. It was discovered on 9 September 2015, by the Outer Solar System Origins Survey at Mauna Kea Observatories on the Big island of Hawaii, in the United States. The object is in a rare 2:9 resonance with Neptune and measures approximately 600 kilometers in diameter. may have a satellite according to a study announced by Noyelles et al.
In 2001, the first Neptune trojan was discovered, , near Neptune's region, and with it the fifthAfter the asteroid belt, the Jupiter trojans, the trans- Neptunian objects and the Mars trojans. known populated stable reservoir of small bodies in the Solar System. In 2005, the discovery of the high- inclination trojan has indicated that the Neptune trojans populate thick clouds, which has constrained their possible origins (see below). On August 12, 2010, the first trojan, , was announced.
50000 Quaoar is a non-resonant trans-Neptunian object (cubewano) and a possible dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a region of icy planetesimals beyond Neptune. It measures approximately in diameter, about half the diameter of Pluto. The object was discovered by American astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown at the Palomar Observatory on 4 June 2002. Signs of water ice on the surface of Quaoar have been found, which suggests that cryovolcanism may be occurring on Quaoar.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and damocloid on a cometary-like orbit from the outer Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was first observed on 22 June 2017 by the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii, United States. The unusual object has the largest heliocentric aphelion of any known minor planet, even larger than that of ; it is calculated to reach several thousand AU (Earth-Sun) distances at the farthest extent of its orbit.
In planetary science, any material that has a relatively high equilibrium condensation temperature is called refractory. The opposite of refractory is volatile. The refractory group includes elements and compounds like metals and silicates (commonly termed rocks) which make up the bulk of the mass of the terrestrial planets and asteroids in the inner belt. A fraction of the mass of other asteroids, giant planets, their moons and trans-Neptunian objects is also made of refractory materials.
This migration causes resonances to sweep through the asteroid belt, increasing the eccentricities of many asteroids until they enter the inner Solar System and impact the terrestrial planets. The Nice model has undergone some modification since its initial publication. The giant planets now begin in a multi-resonant configuration due an early gas-driven migration through the protoplanetary disk. Interactions with the trans-Neptunian belt allow their escape from the resonances after several hundred million years.
In its discovery images Dysnomia was ~60 times fainter (or 4.43 magnitudes) than Eris in the K band, and later observations with the Hubble Space Telescope found it to be 500 times fainter in the visible band. This indicates a very different, and quite redder, spectrum, indicating a significantly darker surface. Its diameter reveals it to be a rather large trans-Neptunian object. Of the known moons of dwarf planets, only Charon is larger than Dysnomia.
Artist's rendering of the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud. Freeman Dyson has proposed that trans-Neptunian objects, rather than planets, are the major potential habitat of life in space. Several hundred billion to trillion comet- like ice-rich bodies exist outside the orbit of Neptune, in the Kuiper belt and Inner and Outer Oort cloud. These may contain all the ingredients for life (water ice, ammonia, and carbon-rich compounds), including significant amounts of deuterium and helium-3.
Renu Malhotra (born 1961) is an American planetary scientist known for using the orbital resonance between Pluto and Neptune to infer large-scale orbital migration of the giant planets and to predict the existence of Plutinos in resonance with Neptune. The asteroid 6698 Malhotra was named for her on 14 December 1997 (). She is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the co- discovery of (455206) 2001 FE193, a trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt.
Radiation damage should also redden and darken the surface of trans-Neptunian objects where the common surface materials of organic ices and tholin-like compounds are present, as is the case with Pluto. Therefore, the spectra and colour suggest Haumea and its family members have undergone recent resurfacing that produced fresh ice. However, no plausible resurfacing mechanism has been suggested. Haumea is as bright as snow, with an albedo in the range of 0.6–0.8, consistent with crystalline ice.
' is a resonant trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. The likely dwarf planet belongs to the Kuiper belt's plutino population and measures approximately in diameter. It was first observed on 26 July 2017, by American astronomers David Tholen, Scott Sheppard, and Chad Trujillo at Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii, but not announced until 31 May 2018 due to observations made in April and May 2018 refining its orbit significantly.
However, ground-based results were inconclusive. Over the next six years, approximately 50 other occultations were observed with only about one-third of them yielding positive results. Something (probably incomplete arcs) definitely existed around Neptune, but the features of the ring system remained a mystery. The Voyager 2 spacecraft made the definitive discovery of the Neptunian rings during its fly-by of Neptune in 1989, passing by as close as above the planet's atmosphere on 25 August.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object of the scattered disc orbiting in the outermost region of the Solar System. The Spitzer Space Telescope has estimated this object to be about in diameter, but 2012 estimates from the Herschel Space Observatory estimate the diameter as closer to . It is not a detached object, since its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) is under the influence of Neptune. Light-curve-amplitude analysis suggests that it is a spheroid.
Comparison of sizes, albedo, and colors of various large trans-Neptunian objects. The gray arcs represent uncertainties of the object's size. In the visible spectrum, Ixion appears moderately red in color, similar to the large Kuiper belt object . Ixion's reflectance spectrum displays a red spectral slope that extends from wavelengths of 0.4 to 0.95 μm, in which it reflects more light at these wavelengths. Longward of 0.85 μm, Ixion's spectrum becomes flat and featureless, especially at near-infrared wavelengths.
Several theories have been posited to explain the formation of binary- asteroid systems. Many systems have significant macro-porosity (a "rubble- pile" interior). The satellites orbiting large main-belt asteroids such as 22 Kalliope, 45 Eugenia or 87 Sylvia may have formed by disruption of a parent body after impact or fission after an oblique impact. Trans-Neptunian binaries may have formed during the formation of the Solar System by mutual capture or three-body interaction.
Neptune was discovered on 23 September 1846. Neptune is a 19th-century planet in that it heralded in many of the varied assortment of Protestant religions, as well as spiritualism, took hold. Visionaries such as Edgar Cayce and Rudolf Steiner were born in the second half of the 19th century, and their psychic abilities are indicative of the Neptunian themes of this time. It has an orbit of 165 years, which is approximately twice the time of Uranus.
', also written as , is a trans-Neptunian object and centaur from the outer Solar System, approximately 106 kilometers in diameter. It was first observed on 11 July 2007, by American astronomers Megan Schwamb, Michael Brown and David Rabinowitz at Palomar Observatory in California. The object has a high eccentricity of 0.49. It comes within 17 AU of the Sun (inside the orbit of Uranus) and goes as far as 50 AU at aphelion (near the Kuiper cliff).
There is no official definition of 'cubewano' or 'classical KBO'. However, the terms are normally used to refer to objects free from significant perturbation from Neptune, thereby excluding KBOs in orbital resonance with Neptune (resonant trans-Neptunian objects). The Minor Planet Center (MPC) and the Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) do not list cubewanos (classical objects) using the same criteria. Many TNOs classified as cubewanos by the MPC are classified as ScatNear (possibly scattered by Neptune) by the DES.
' is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) orbiting the Sun near the outer edge of the Kuiper belt. If size estimates based on its absolute magnitude are correct, it is a possible dwarf planet. Its discovery images were taken in 2007, and its absolute magnitude of 4.5 is one of the twenty brightest exhibited by TNOs. Assuming it has a typical albedo, this would make it roughly the same size as Ixion (about 530–620 km diameter).
Neptune trojans are resonant trans-Neptunian objects (TNO) in a 1:1 mean-motion orbital resonance with Neptune. These Trojans have a semi-major axis and an orbital period very similar to Neptune's (30.10 AU; 164.8 years). belongs to the trailing group, which follow 60° behind Neptune's orbit. It orbits the Sun with a semi-major axis of 30.370 AU at a distance of 24.7–36.1 AU once every 167 years and 4 months (61,132 days).
Neptune trojans are resonant trans-Neptunian objects (TNO) in a 1:1 mean-motion orbital resonance with Neptune. These Trojans have a semi-major axis and an orbital period very similar to Neptune's (30.10 AU; 164.8 years). belongs to the larger group, which leads 60° ahead Neptune's orbit. It orbits the Sun with a semi-major axis of 30.014 AU at a distance of 28.1–31.9 AU once every 164 years and 5 months (60,059 days).
', also known by its nickname "'Biden", is a trans-Neptunian object of the sednoid population, located in the outermost reaches of the Solar System. It was first observed on 5 November 2012 by American astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The discovery was announced on 26 March 2014. The object probably measures somewhere between 300 and 1000 km in diameter, possibly large enough to be a dwarf planet.
Comets can be observed colliding into planets, such as the Shoemaker Levy 9's collision with Jupiter. The trans-Neptunian object 2008 KV42 with a retrograde motion orbit can be seen in a simulation. Moons are able to be converged into planets, and may be able to affect the planet's atmosphere or minerals. Players are able to view the Rho Cancri (55 Cancri) star in the constellation of Cancer; they can see the five known planets in the system.
120347 Salacia, provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt, approximately 850 kilometers in diameter. As of 2018, it is located about 44.8 astronomical units from the Sun, and reaches apparent magnitude 20.7 at opposition. Salacia was discovered on 22 September 2004, by American astronomers Henry Roe, Michael Brown and Kristina Barkume at the Palomar Observatory in California, United States. It has been observed 124 times, with precovery images back to 25 July 1982.
The small light curve amplitude of Gonggong indicates that it is being viewed at a pole-on configuration, further evidenced by the observed inclined orbit of its satellite. The Kepler observations provided ambiguous values of and hours for the rotation period. Based on a best-fit model for its rotation pole orientation, the value of hours is thought to be the more plausible one. Gonggong rotates slowly compared to other trans-Neptunian objects, which usually have periods between 6 and 12 hours.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object and member of the Haumea family that resides in the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 19 September 1995, by American astronomer Nichole Danzl of the Spacewatch program at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. It measures approximately 600–700 kilometers in diameter and was the second-brightest known object in the Kuiper belt, after Pluto, until was discovered.
Weywot, officially (50000) Quaoar I Weywot, is the only known moon of the trans-Neptunian object and possible dwarf planet 50000 Quaoar. Discovered by Michael Brown and T.A. Suer using images acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope on 14 February 2006, its existence was announced in an IAU Circular notice published on 22 February 2007. Weywot has an estimated diameter of (approximately 15% of its primary). The satellite was found at 0.35 arcseconds from Quaoar with an apparent magnitude difference of 5.6.
Another, more recent proposal was for Argo, a flyby spacecraft to be launched in 2019, that would visit Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and a Kuiper belt object. The focus would be on Neptune and its largest moon Triton to be investigated around 2029. The proposed New Horizons 2 mission (which was later scrapped) might also have done a close flyby of the Neptunian system. Currently a pending proposal for the Discovery program, the Trident would conduct a flyby of Neptune and Triton.
90377 Sedna, or simply Sedna, is a large planetoid in the outer reaches of the Solar System that was, , at a distance of about from the Sun, about three times as far as Neptune. Spectroscopy has revealed that Sedna's surface composition is similar to those of some other trans-Neptunian objects, being largely a mixture of water, methane, and nitrogen ices with tholins. Its surface is one of the reddest among Solar System objects. It is a possible dwarf planet.
', nicknamed Buffy', is a trans-Neptunian object, classified both as scattered and detached object, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was first observed on 11 December 2004, by astronomers with the Canada–France Ecliptic Plane Survey at the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, United States. The highly inclined dwarf planet candidate measures approximately in diameter. With its perihelion of 51 AU, it belongs to a small and poorly understood group of very distant objects with moderate eccentricities.
The Zooniverse project Catalina Outer Solar System Survey is a citizen science project and it is listed as a NASA citizen science project. In this project, the volunteers search for trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) in pre-processed images of the Catalina Sky Survey. Computers can detect the motion of TNOs, but humans have to check if this motion is real. Upon agreement with the volunteers, they will be cited as "measurers" in the submission of the astrometry to the Minor Planet Center.
On July 29, 2005, Mike Brown and his team announced the discovery of a trans-Neptunian object confirmed to be more massive than Pluto, named Eris. In the immediate aftermath of the object's discovery, there was much discussion as to whether it could be termed a "tenth planet". NASA even put out a press release describing it as such. However, acceptance of Eris as the tenth planet implicitly demanded a definition of planet that set Pluto as an arbitrary minimum size.
HD 17156 c is a plausible extrasolar planet approximately 255 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The planet is thought to be orbiting the yellow giant star HD 17156. This planet has a mass of 0.063 Jupiter mass (or 20 Earth masses) and takes about 111.314 days or 0.305 year to orbit the star, classifying the planet as a cool Neptunian planet. This put it in the distance of 0.481 astronomical units or 72.0 gigameters with a moderate eccentricity.
Following the discovery of Neptune in 1846, there was considerable speculation that another planet might exist beyond its orbit. The best-known of these theories predicted the existence of a distant planet that was influencing the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. After extensive calculations Percival Lowell predicted the possible orbit and location of the hypothetical trans-Neptunian planet and began an extensive search for it in 1906. He called the hypothetical object Planet X, a name previously used by Gabriel Dallet.
420356 Praamzius, provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object from the classical Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 23 January 2012, by astronomers Kazimieras Černis and Richard Boyle with the Vatican's VATT at Mount Graham Observatory in Arizona, United States. The cold classical Kuiper belt object is a weak dwarf planet candidate and possibly very red in color. It was named after the chief god Praamžius from Lithuanian mythology.
Reports on Astronomy 2006–2009. Transactions of the IAU, vol. XXVII-A In most languages equivalent terms have been created by translating dwarf planet more-or-less literally: French ', Spanish ', German ', Russian karlikovaya planeta (), Arabic kaukab qazm (), Chinese ǎixíngxīng (), Korean waesohangseong or waehangseong (왜소행성; 矮小行星, 왜행성; 矮行星), but in Japanese they are called junwakusei (), meaning "quasi-planets" or "peneplanets". IAU Resolution 6a of 2006 recognizes Pluto as "the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects".
This process continued until the planetesimals interacted with Jupiter, whose immense gravity sent them into highly elliptical orbits or even ejected them outright from the Solar System. This caused Jupiter to move slightly inward. This scattering scenario explains the trans-Neptunian populations' present low mass. In contrast to the outer planets, the inner planets are not believed to have migrated significantly over the age of the Solar System, because their orbits have remained stable following the period of giant impacts.
The rings are generally optically thin (transparent); their normal optical depths do not exceed 0.1. As a whole, the Neptunian rings resemble those of Jupiter; both systems consist of faint, narrow, dusty ringlets and even fainter broad dusty rings. The rings of Neptune, like those of Uranus, are thought to be relatively young; their age is probably significantly less than that of the Solar System. Also, like those of Uranus, Neptune's rings probably resulted from the collisional fragmentation of onetime inner moons.
First the player can use the IOS to extract material from asteroids not found on Earth (such as silver, platinum etc.), and later build bases on the selected planets with the orbital factories so that exotic material is steadily produced. In the process the player will meet the Methanoids, colonists from the first game who declared independence when Earth was re-settled. Now they dominate Trans-Neptunian space and act secretively, only allowing the player to swap mined goods for materials they need.
It is therefore necessary that objects forming beyond the frost line–such as comets, trans-Neptunian objects, and water-rich meteoroids (protoplanets)–delivered water to Earth. However, the timing of this delivery is still in question. One theory claims that Earth accreted (gradually grew by accumulation of) icy planetesimals about 4.5 billion years ago, when it was 60 to 90% of its current size. In this scenario, Earth was able to retain water in some form throughout accretion and major impact events.
28978 Ixion , provisional designation , is a large trans-Neptunian object and a possible dwarf planet. It is located in the Kuiper belt, a region of icy objects orbiting beyond Neptune in the outer Solar System. Ixion is classified as a plutino, a dynamical class of objects in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune. It was discovered in May 2001 by astronomers of the Deep Ecliptic Survey at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and was announced in July 2001.
Animation of Sedna's orbit (in red) with the Hills cloud (in blue) at the last moment of the loop. Sedna is a minor planet discovered by Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo and David L. Rabinowitz on 14 November 2003. Spectroscopic measures show that its surface composition is similar to that of other trans-Neptunian objects: It is mainly composed of a mixture of water ices, methane, and nitrogen with tholins. Its surface is one of the reddest in the Solar System.
' is a trans-Neptunian object and detached object, located in the scattered disc, the outermost region of the Solar System. It was first observed on 17 March 2015, by a team led by American astronomer Scott Sheppard at the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, United States. With its perihelion of almost 51 AU, it belongs to a small and poorly understood group of very distant objects with moderate eccentricities. The object is not a dwarf planet candidate as it only measures approximately in diameter.
A ring around Haumea, a dwarf planet and resonant Kuiper belt member, was revealed by a stellar occultation observed on 21 January 2017. This makes it the first trans-Neptunian object found to have a ring system. The ring has a radius of about 2,287 km, a width of ≈70 km and an opacity of 0.5. The ring plane coincides with Haumea's equator and the orbit of its larger, outer moon Hi’iaka (which has a semimajor axis of ≈25,657 km).
In 1797, he met Humboldt at Salzburg, and with him explored the geological formations of Styria, and the adjoining Alps. In the spring of 1798, Buch extended his excursions into Italy, where his faith in the Neptunian theory was shaken. In his early works, he had advocated the aqueous origin of basaltic and other formations, but now he saw cause to abandon Werner's theory, and to recognize the volcanic origin of the basalts. He saw Vesuvius for the first time in 1799.
', also written as (33340) 1998 VG44', is a trans-Neptunian object. It has a 2:3 orbital resonance with the planet Neptune, similar to Pluto, classifying it as a plutino. Its average distance from the Sun is 39.083 AU with a perihelion of 29.354 AU and an aphelion at 48.813 AU. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.249, and is inclined by 3°. It is about 221 km in diameter, so it is unlikely to be classified as a dwarf planet.
A distant minor planet, or distant object, is any minor planet found beyond Jupiter in the outer Solar System that is not commonly thought of as an "asteroid". The umbrella term is used by IAU's Minor Planet Center (MPC), which is responsible for the identification, designation and orbit computation of these objects. , the MPC maintains 3929 distant objects in its data base. Most distant minor planets are trans-Neptunian objects and centaurs, while relatively few are damocloids, Neptune trojans or Uranus trojans.
' is a binary minor planet with a minor-planet moon in its orbit. On 22 December 2000, French astronomers Christian Veillet and Alain Doressoundiram in collaboration with J. Shapiro discovered the satellite using the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii, United States. The discovery was announced on 16 April 2001 and received the provisional designation '. It was the first trans-Neptunian binary discovered after Charon in 1978, the largest satellite in the Pluto–Charon system.
At aphelion it is over 1,000 AU from the Sun and, with a perihelion of 21 AU, almost crosses the orbit of Uranus at closest approach. Astronomers with the Deep Ecliptic Survey classify it as a centaur rather than a trans-Neptunian object.Structure and Dynamics of the Centaur Population: Constraints on the Origin of Short-Period Comets came to perihelion in April 2005. Both and take longer than Sedna to orbit the Sun using either heliocentric coordinates or barycentric coordinates.
Planetary surfaces are found throughout the Solar System, from the inner terrestrial planets, to the asteroid belt, the natural satellites of the gas giant planets and beyond to the Trans-Neptunian objects. Surface conditions, temperatures and terrain vary significantly due to a number of factors including Albedo often generated by the surfaces itself. Measures of surface conditions include surface area, surface gravity, surface temperature and surface pressure. Surface stability may be affected by erosion through Aeolian processes, hydrology, subduction, volcanism, sediment or seismic activity.
U-47s seventh patrol consisted of her travelling north of the British Isles and into the North Atlantic, south of Iceland. During a period of 30 days, she sank a total of six enemy vessels and damaged another. U-47s first victory during her seventh patrol was the sinking of the Belgian passenger ship Ville de Mons on 2 September 1940. This was followed by the sinking of a British vessel, Titan, on 4 September and Gro, José de Larrinaga, and Neptunian on the 7th.
Ixion depends on the albedo (the fraction of light that it reflects), which is currently unknown. Beside directly orbiting the Sun, the qualifying feature of a dwarf planet is that it have "sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid-body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape". Current observations are generally insufficient for a direct determination as to whether a body meets this definition. Often the only clues for trans-Neptunian objects is a crude estimate of their diameters and albedos.
The data about the populations of binary objects are still patchy. In addition to the inevitable observational bias (dependence on the distance from Earth, size, albedo and separation of the components) the frequency appears to be different among different categories of objects. Among asteroids, an estimated 2% would have satellites. Among trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), an estimated 11% are thought to be binary or multiple objects, and the majority of the large TNOs have at least one satellite, including all four IAU-listed dwarf planets.
Brown is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery or co-discovery of 29 minor planets, not counting Haumea (see list below). He is best known in the scientific community for his surveys for distant objects orbiting the Sun. His team has discovered many trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Particularly notable are Eris, a dwarf planet and the only TNO known to be more massive than Pluto, leading directly to Pluto's demotion from planet status;Kenneth Chang: The War of the Worlds, Round 2.
' orbits the Sun at a distance of 29.7–48.7 AU once every 245 years and 3 months (89,589 days; semi-major axis of 39.18 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.24 and an inclination of 17° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken at Mauna Kea on 7 October 1999, just two nights prior to its official first observation. It is a member of the plutinos, a group of resonant trans-Neptunian objects named after Pluto.
Arecibo radar image from 19 October 2003, showing the relative motion of the components. Radar observations led by Jean-Luc Margot at Arecibo Observatory and Goldstone in October and November 2003 showed Hermes to be a binary asteroid. The primary and secondary components have nearly identical radii of and , respectively, and their orbital separation is only 1,200 metres, much smaller than the Hill radius of 35 km. The two components are in double synchronous rotation (similar to the trans-Neptunian system Pluto and Charon).
', provisional designation , is a resonant trans-Neptunian object of the plutino population, located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 11 October 1996, by astronomers Jane Luu, David C. Jewitt and Chad Trujillo at the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, in the United States. The very reddish RR-type with a highly eccentric orbit has been near its perihelion around the time of its discovery. This minor planet was numbered in 2000 and has since not been named.
The first three names come from "liberty, equality, fraternity", the motto of the French Revolution and Republic. The terminology was suggested by their original discoverers, who had found them during stellar occultations in 1984 and 1985. Four small Neptunian moons have orbits inside the ring system: Naiad and Thalassa orbit in the gap between the Galle and Le Verrier rings; Despina is just inward of the Le Verrier ring; and Galatea lies slightly inward of the Adams ring, embedded in an unnamed faint, narrow ringlet.
471143 Dziewanna , exact: , provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object in the scattered disc, orbiting the Sun in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 13 March 2010, by astronomers Andrzej Udalski, Scott Sheppard, Marcin Kubiak and Chad Trujillo at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The discovery was made during the Polish OGLE project of Warsaw University. Based on its absolute magnitude and assumed albedo, it is possibly a dwarf planet with a calculated diameter of approximately 470 kilometers.
'541132 Leleākūhonua, provisionally designated ', is an extreme trans- Neptunian object and sednoid in the outermost part of the Solar System. It was first observed on 13 October 2015, by astronomers at the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii. Based on its discovery date and the letters in its provisional designation , the object was informally nicknamed "The Goblin" by its discoverers and later named Leleākūhonua, comparing its orbit to the flight of migratory birds. It was the third sednoid discovered, after and , and measures approximately in diameter.
Along with the similar orbits of other distant trans-Neptunian objects, the orbit of Leleākūhonua suggests, but does not prove, the existence of a hypothetical Planet Nine in the outer Solar System. , the object is inbound 78 AU from the Sun; about two-and-a-half times farther out than Pluto's current location. It will come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in 2078. As with Sedna, it would not have been found had it not been on the inner leg of its long orbit.
The orbit of is poorly constrained, as it has only been observed 8 times over less than 1 year due to how dim it is. At a visual apparent magnitude of 26.2, it is about 75 million times fainter than what can be seen with the naked eye, and it is one of the dimmest trans-Neptunian objects ever observed, only being able to be seen by the largest modern telescopes. It is estimated to have come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) around the year .
' is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the Kuiper belt. It orbits slightly outside a 3:5 resonance with Neptune, taking 16 years (5.5% of its orbit) longer to orbit the Sun than a body in 3:5 resonance. It was discovered on 2 April 2011 at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. With an absolute magnitude of 5.2, it is probably a dwarf planet, as its diameter has been roughly estimated to be about 450 kilometers based on an assumed geometric albedo of 0.06.
Quaoar was discovered on 4 June 2002 and is considered to be a trans-Neptunian object. Although a planetoid, it is considered by many to be more of a planet than Pluto because its orbit is more circular in nature, being 286 years. When a person is around 71 years old, transiting Quaoar will form a square aspect to his natal placement. Since this is a recently discovered object, not much is yet known about its astrological significance and what part it plays in the universe.
Prediction of hypothetical Planet Nine's orbit based on unique clustering On January 20, 2016, Brown and Konstantin Batygin published an article corroborating Trujillo and Sheppard's initial findings; proposing a super-Earth (dubbed Planet Nine) based on a statistical clustering of the arguments of perihelia (noted before) near zero and also ascending nodes near 113° of six distant trans-Neptunian objects. They estimated it to be ten times the mass of Earth (about 60% the mass of Neptune) with a semimajor axis of approximately 400–1500 AU.
In March 2001, he was reading the Inuit tale Hide and Sneak to his children and had a revelation. He contacted the author of the tale, Michael Kusugak, to get his assent, and the latter suggested the names Kiviuq and Sedna. Kavelaars then decided that the selected Inuit names should end in the letter q to distinguish the group—hence the name Sedna was changed to Siarnaq. The former name was later used for 90377 Sedna, a distant trans-Neptunian object discovered in 2003.
The need to avoid ring material detected by stellar occultations resulted in this trajectory being abandoned and a trajectory that largely avoided the rings but resulted in more distant flybys of both targets. Voyager 2 spacecraft On 25 August, in Voyager 2 last planetary encounter, the spacecraft swooped only above Neptune's north pole, the closest approach it made to any body since it left Earth in 1977. When the spacecraft visited the Neptunian system, Neptune was the farthest known body in the Solar System.
' is a small, resonant trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was first observed by a team of astronomers using one of the Magellan Telescopes in Chile during the New Horizons KBO Search on 18 April 2012, in order to find a potential flyby target for the New Horizons spacecraft. The likely 5:9 resonant object was imaged by the spacecraft from afar at a record distance from Earth in 2017.
', provisional designation , is a small trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 17 April 2012, by a team of astronomers using one of the Magellan Telescopes in Chile during the New Horizons KBO Search in order to find a potential flyby target for the New Horizons spacecraft. In December 2017, this classical Kuiper belt object was imaged by the spacecraft from afar at a record distance from Earth.
' is a member of the damocloids, with a retrograde orbit and a negative TJupiter of −0.8340. It is also a trans-Neptunian object, as its orbit has a semi-major axis larger than that of Neptune (30.1 AU). The Minor Planet Center lists it as a critical object, centaur, and (other) unusual minor planet due to an orbital eccentricity of more than 0.5. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.5–105 AU once every 396 years (semi-major axis of 53.92 AU).
Gonggong was discovered in July 2007 by American astronomers Megan Schwamb, Michael Brown, and David Rabinowitz at the Palomar Observatory, and the discovery was announced in January 2009. At about in diameter, Gonggong is approximately the size of Pluto's moon Charon, and is the fifth-largest known trans-Neptunian object in the Solar System (not counting Charon). It may be sufficiently massive to be gravitationally rounded and therefore a dwarf planet. Gonggong's large mass makes retention of a tenuous atmosphere of methane just possible, though such an atmosphere would slowly escape into space.
Gonggong moving among background stars during a 19-day observation period by the Kepler spacecraft Based on the orbit of its satellite, the mass of Gonggong has been calculated to be , with a density of . From these mass and density estimates, the size of Gonggong was calculated to be about , smaller than the previous 2016 size estimate of . Given the mass, the 2016 size estimate of would have implied an unexpectedly low (and likely erroneous) density of . Gonggong is the fifth most massive trans-Neptunian object, after Eris, Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake.
The tables below list selected orbital elements and physical properties of radar-detected minor planets listed by region of the Solar System: asteroid belt, near-Earth objects, or trans-Neptunian objects. The semi-major axis (a), orbital eccentricity (e), inclination (i) to the ecliptic, and orbital period (P) is shown. Where possible, the number of decimals in maintained to the same limited level of significance in each column. This is because further detail is not needed for comparison purposes, and because the values can slightly change over time due to new measurements or gravitational perturbations.
Orbital diagram of 5145 Pholus Pholus was the second centaur to be discovered. Centaurs are objects in between the asteroid and trans-Neptunian populations of the Solar System that is, beyond Jupiter's and within Neptune's orbit which behave with characteristics of both asteroids and comets. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 8.8–32.0 AU once every 92 years and 1 month (33,637 days; semi-major axis of 20.39 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.57 and an inclination of 25° with respect to the ecliptic.
Polarimetric observations with ESO's Very Large Telescope in 2007 and 2008, revealed noticeable negative polarization at certain phase angles, distinctly different from that of trans-Neptunian objects. Pholus appears to have a rather homogeneous surface with small amount of water frost on its darker parts. The surface composition of Pholus has been estimated from its reflectance spectrum using two spatially segregated components: dark amorphous carbon and an intimate mixture of water ice, methanol ice, olivine grains, and complex organic compounds (tholins). The carbon black component was used to match the low albedo of the object.
Triton is the largest natural satellite of the planet Neptune, and the first Neptunian moon to be discovered. The discovery was made on October 10, 1846, by English astronomer William Lassell. It is the only large moon in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit, an orbit in the direction opposite to its planet's rotation. At in diameter, it is the seventh-largest moon in the Solar System, the only satellite of Neptune massive enough to be in hydrostatic equilibrium and the second-largest planetary moon in relation to its primary, after Earth's Moon.
It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume but is less massive than Eris. Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is primarily made of ice and rock and is relatively small—one-sixth the mass of the Moon and one-third its volume. It has a moderately eccentric and inclined orbit during which it ranges from 30 to 49 astronomical units or AU (4.4–7.4 billion km) from the Sun. This means that Pluto periodically comes closer to the Sun than Neptune, but a stable orbital resonance with Neptune prevents them from colliding.
In February 2000 the Hayden Planetarium in New York City displayed a Solar System model of only eight planets, which made headlines almost a year later. Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta lost their planet status after the discovery of many other asteroids. Similarly, objects increasingly closer in size to Pluto were discovered in the Kuiper belt region. On July 29, 2005, astronomers at Caltech announced the discovery of a new trans-Neptunian object, Eris, which was substantially more massive than Pluto and the most massive object discovered in the Solar System since Triton in 1846.
This trans- Neptunian population is thought to be the source of many short-period comets. Pluto is now known to be the largest member of the Kuiper belt, a stable belt of objects located between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun. As of 2011, surveys of the Kuiper belt to magnitude 21 were nearly complete and any remaining Pluto- sized objects are expected to be beyond 100 AU from the Sun. Like other Kuiper-belt objects (KBOs), Pluto shares features with comets; for example, the solar wind is gradually blowing Pluto's surface into space.
Due to its unstable nature, the scattered disc is suspected to be the point of origin of many of the Solar System's short-period comets. Their dynamic orbits occasionally force them into the inner Solar System, first becoming centaurs, and then short-period comets. According to the Minor Planet Center, which officially catalogues all trans-Neptunian objects, a KBO, strictly speaking, is any object that orbits exclusively within the defined Kuiper belt region regardless of origin or composition. Objects found outside the belt are classed as scattered objects.
The spectrum in the visible and near-infrared rages is very similar to that of Charon, characterized by neutral to blue slope (1%/1000 Å) with deep (60%) water absorption bands at 1.5 and 2.0 μm. Mineralogical analysis indicates a substantial fraction of large ice (H2O) particles. The signal-to-noise ratio of the observations was insufficient to differentiate between amorphous or crystalline ice (crystalline ice was reported on Charon, Quaoar and Haumea). The proportion of highly processed organic materials (tholins), typically present on numerous trans-Neptunian objects, is very low.
In 2008, work was published showing that the binary has an extraordinarily long orbital period (for a binary trans-Neptunian object, asteroid or minor planet) of about 17 years. The orbital radius is also remarkably high (105,000 to 135,000 km) while the eccentricity is unusually low (< 0.4). All of these parameters are in the extremes of their normal ranges for such objects. The wide spacing and low eccentricity conspire to make the system prone to disruption, and its lifetime is estimated to be in the order of another billion years.
Although the survey was sensitive to movement out to 1,000 AU and discovered the likely dwarf planet Gonggong, it detected no new sednoid. Subsequent simulations incorporating the new data suggested about 40 Sedna-sized objects probably exist in this region, with the brightest being about Eris's magnitude (−1.0). In 2014, astronomers announced the discovery of , an object half the size of Sedna in a 4,200-year orbit similar to Sedna's and a perihelion within Sedna's range of roughly 80 AU, which led some to speculate that it offered evidence of a trans-Neptunian planet.
', also known as , is a trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was first observed on 24 May 2015, by astronomers of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey using the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, United States. It is one a small number of detached objects with perihelion distances of 30 AU or more, and semi-major axes of 250 AU or more. Such objects can not reach such orbits without some perturbing object, which lead to the speculation of Planet Nine.
Michael E. Brown (born June 5, 1965) is an American astronomer, who has been professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) since 2003. His team has discovered many trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), including the dwarf planet Eris, which was originally thought to be bigger than Pluto, triggering a debate on the definition of a planet. He has been referred to by himself and by others as the man who "killed Pluto",Astronomer Who ‘Killed’ Pluto to Present Annual Science Lecture. Sarah Lawrence College – News and Events.
At perihelion, approaches close to Neptune's orbit without crossing it, having a minimum orbit intersection distance of approximately 8 AU. Because approaches Neptune at close proximity, its orbit has likely been perturbed and scattered by Neptune, thus it falls into the category of scattered-disc objects. last passed perihelion in the late 17th century. Orbit diagram of several extreme trans-Neptunian objects, with scattered-disc objects and shown for scale. Despite being one of the most distant TNOs known, does not have the largest average orbital distance (semi-major axis) among all known objects.
Other compounds like methane or ammonia may also be present on its surface. It was discovered by American astronomers Michael Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz on 17 February 2004. Orcus is a plutino, a trans-Neptunian object that is locked in a 2:3 resonance with the ice giant Neptune, making two revolutions around the Sun to every three of Neptune's. This is much like Pluto, except that the phase of Orcus's orbit is opposite from Pluto's: Orcus is at aphelion when Pluto is at perihelion and vice versa.
Orcus compared to Earth and the Moon Long-exposure photograph of Orcus at visual magnitude 19.2 The absolute magnitude of Orcus is approximately 2.3. The detection of Orcus by the Spitzer Space Telescope in the far infrared and by Herschel Space Telescope in submillimeter estimates its diameter at , with an uncertainty of . Orcus appears to have an albedo of about 21–25 percent, which may be typical of trans-Neptunian objects approaching the diameter range. The magnitude and size estimates were made under the assumption that Orcus is a singular object.
Some calculations indicate that cryovolcanism, which is considered one of the possible renewal mechanisms, may indeed be possible for trans-Neptunian objects larger than about . Orcus may have experienced at least one such episode in the past, which turned the amorphous water ice on its surface into crystalline. The preferred type of volcanism may have been explosive aqueous volcanism driven by an explosive dissolution of methane from water–ammonia melts. Models of internal heating via radioactive decay suggest that Orcus may be capable of sustaining an internal ocean of liquid water.
Astronomers began cataloguing them separately and began calling them "asteroids" instead of "planets". With the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, astronomers considered the Solar System to have nine planets, along with thousands of smaller bodies such as asteroids and comets. Pluto was thought to be larger than Mercury. Tombaugh discovered Pluto while working at the Lowell Observatory founded by Percival Lowell, one of many astronomers who had theorized on the existence of the large trans-Neptunian object Planet X, and Tombaugh been searching for Planet X when he found Pluto.
This definition, which applies only to the Solar System (though exoplanets had been addressed in 2003), states that a planet is a body that orbits the Sun, is massive enough for its own gravity to make it round, and has "cleared its neighbourhood" of smaller objects approaching its orbit. Under this formalized definition, Pluto and other trans-Neptunian objects do not qualify as planets. The IAU's decision has not resolved all controversies, and while many astronomers have accepted it, some planetary scientists have rejected it outright, proposing a geophysical or similar definition instead.
Other people also confuse Nibiru with Sedna (90377 Sedna) or Eris (136199 Eris), trans-Neptunian objects discovered by Mike Brown in 2003 and 2005 respectively. However, despite having been described as a "tenth planet" in an early NASA press release, Eris (then known only as 2003 UB313) is now classified as a dwarf planet. Only slightly more massive than Pluto, Eris has a well-determined orbit that never takes it closer to the Earth than . Sedna is slightly smaller than Pluto, and never comes closer to Earth than .
Planet Nine is a hypothetical planet in the outer region of the Solar System. Its gravitational effects could explain the unusual clustering of orbits for a group of extreme trans-Neptunian objects (eTNOs), bodies beyond Neptune that orbit the Sun at distances averaging more than 250 times that of the Earth. These eTNOs tend to make their closest approaches to the Sun in one sector, and their orbits are similarly tilted. These improbable alignments suggest that an undiscovered planet may be shepherding the orbits of the most distant known Solar System objects.
Hiiaka is the larger, outer moon of the possible dwarf planet Haumea. It is named after one of the daughters of Haumea, Hiiaka, the patron goddess of the Big Island of Hawaii. It orbits once every at a distance of , with an eccentricity of and an inclination of . Assuming its estimated diameter of over 300 km is accurate, it may be the fourth- or fifth-largest known moon of a Trans-Neptunian object, after Pluto I Charon, Eris I Dysnomia, Orcus I Vanth, very possibly Varda I Ilmarë, and perhaps Salacia I Actaea.
In April 2017, using data from the SkyMapper telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, citizen scientists on the Zooniverse platform reported four candidates for Planet Nine. These candidates will be followed up on by astronomers to determine their viability. The project, which started on 28 March 2017, completed their goals in less than three days with around five million classifications by more than 60,000 individuals. The Zooniverse Catalina Outer Solar System Survey project, started in August 2020, and is using archived data from the Catalina Sky Survey to search for TNOs (Trans Neptunian Objects).
' has a similar size and orbit as . ' belongs to a small group of detached objects with perihelion distances of 30 AU or more, and semi-major axes of 150 AU or more. These extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs) can not reach such orbits without some perturbing object, which lead to the speculation of Planet Nine. It is also denoted at extended detached disc object or extreme distant detached object (EDDO). It orbits the Sun at a distance of 45.6–788 AU once every 8512 years (3,109,107 days; semi-major axis of 417 AU).
Comparison of sizes, albedo, and colors of various large trans-Neptunian objects. The gray arcs represent uncertainties of the object's size. Art concept of Varuna, incorporating some of what is known including its shape and coloration from spectral analysis Varuna's spectrum was first analyzed in early 2001 with the Near Infrared Camera Spectrometer (NICS) at the Galileo National Telescope in Spain. Spectral observations of Varuna at near-infrared wavelengths revealed that the surface of Varuna is moderately red and displays a red spectral slope between the wavelength range of 0.9 and 1.8 μm.
Ground observations of Varuna's thermal emission from 2000 to 2005 yielded large diameter estimates ranging from to , making it comparable to the size of Ceres. Contrary to the ground-based estimates, space-based thermal observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope provided a smaller diameter range of . The discrepancy between ground-based and space-based size estimates are due to the limited observable wavelengths for ground-based observations, as a result of absorption of Earth's atmosphere. Distant trans-Neptunian objects such as Varuna intrinsically emit thermal radiation at longer wavelengths due to their low temperatures.
'15760 Albion, provisional designation ', was the first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered after Pluto and Charon. Measuring about 108–167 kilometres in diameter, it was discovered in 1992 by David C. Jewitt and Jane X. Luu at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii. After the discovery, they dubbed the object ‘Smiley’ and it was shortly hailed as the tenth planet by the press. It is a "cold" classical Kuiper belt object and gave rise to the name cubewano for this kind of object, after the portion of its designation.
', provisional designation , is a trans-Neptunian object in the outer regions of the Solar System, approximately 500 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 10 May 2007, by the U.S. Palomar Observatory in California. The team of unaccredited astronomers at Palomar consisted of Megan E. Schwamb, Michael E. Brown and David L. Rabinowitz The minor planet orbits the Sun at a distance of 38.6–40.6 AU once every 249 years and 1 month (90,983 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.02 and an inclination of 18° with respect to the ecliptic.
The arrangement of the giant planets alters quickly and dramatically. Jupiter shifts Saturn out towards its present position, and this relocation causes mutual gravitational encounters between Saturn and the two ice giants, which propel Neptune and Uranus onto much more eccentric orbits. These ice giants then plough into the planetesimal disk, scattering tens of thousands of planetesimals from their formerly stable orbits in the outer Solar System. This disruption almost entirely scatters the primordial disk, removing 99% of its mass, a scenario which explains the modern-day absence of a dense trans-Neptunian population.
', internal designation o5m72, is a distant resonant trans-Neptunian object on an eccentric orbit in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was first observed on 21 May 2015 by astronomers with the Outer Solar System Origins Survey at the Mauna Kea Observatories on the island of Hawaii, United States. It came to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in October 2017 at a distance of . Its existence was first released in February 2018, and the observations and orbit were announced on 27 April 2018.
', unofficially designated , and , is a possibly binary trans-Neptunian object and likely a classical Kuiper belt object, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was first observed by the New Horizons KBO Search using the Hubble Space Telescope on 30 July 2014. Until 2015, when the object 486958 Arrokoth was selected, it was a potential flyby target for the New Horizons probe. Estimated to be approximately in diameter, the object has a poorly determined orbit as it had been observed for only a few months.
Jacques Babinet, an early proponent of a trans-Neptunian planet In the 1840s, the French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier used Newtonian mechanics to analyse perturbations in the orbit of Uranus, and hypothesised that they were caused by the gravitational pull of a yet-undiscovered planet. Le Verrier predicted the position of this new planet and sent his calculations to German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle. On 23 September 1846, the night following his receipt of the letter, Galle and his student Heinrich d'Arrest discovered Neptune, exactly where Le Verrier had predicted.Croswell (1997), p.
Astronomer George Forbes concluded on the basis of this evidence that two planets must exist beyond Neptune. He calculated, based on the fact that four comets possessed aphelia at around 100 AU and a further six with aphelia clustered at around 300 AU, the orbital elements of a pair of hypothetical trans-Neptunian planets. These elements concorded suggestively with those made independently by another astronomer named David Peck Todd, suggesting to many that they might be valid. However, sceptics argued that the orbits of the comets involved were still too uncertain to produce meaningful results.
' is a trans-Neptunian object, a scattered disc classified as a scattered and detached object, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was first observed on 24 March 2014, by a team led by American astronomer Scott Sheppard at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. With its perihelion of almost 56 AU, it belongs to a small and poorly understood group of very distant objects with moderate eccentricities. The object is not a dwarf planet candidate as it only measures approximately in diameter.
' is a trans-Neptunian object with a possible moon from the outer regions of the Solar System. It is approximately 940 kilometers across its longest axis, as it has an elongated shape. It belongs to the plutinos – a group of minor planets named after its largest member Pluto – as it orbits in a 2:3 resonance with Neptune in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on 13 January 2003, by American astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown during the NEAT survey using the Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory.
Deep sea deposition of carbon dioxide clathrate has been proposed as a method to remove this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and control climate change. Clathrates are suspected to occur in large quantities on some outer planets, moons and trans-Neptunian objects, binding gas at fairly high temperatures. The three major areas that drive scientific and industrial interest on clathrate hydrates are flow assurance, energy resource and technological applications. The technological applications include seawater desalination; natural gas storage and transport; gas separations including CO2 capture; cooling applications for district cooling and data centre cooling.
Both regions lie beyond the heliosphere and in interstellar space. The Kuiper belt and the scattered disc, the other two reservoirs of trans-Neptunian objects, are less than one thousandth as far from the Sun as the Oort cloud. The outer limit of the Oort cloud defines the cosmographic boundary of the Solar System and the extent of the Sun's Hill sphere. The outer Oort cloud is only loosely bound to the Solar System, and thus is easily affected by the gravitational pull both of passing stars and of the Milky Way itself.
Huya's surface is moderately red in color due to the presence of complex organic compounds on its surface. Water ice has been suspected to be also present on its surface, although water ice has not been directly detected on Huya. Huya is considered as a mid-sized trans-Neptunian object, with an estimated diameter of about . Huya was considered to be a possible dwarf planet, though its relatively small size and dark surface imply that it never collapsed into a truly solid body and thus may never have been in hydrostatic equilibrium.
He began writing on geological topics early in life. His Versuch einer mineralogischen Beschreibung von Landeck (Breslau, 1797) was translated into French (Paris, 1805), and into English as Attempt at a Mineralogical Description of Landeck (Edinburgh, 1810). In 1802 he published Entwurf einer geognostischen Beschreibung von Schlesien ("The Geognosy of Silesia"), which became the first volume of his Geognostische Beobachtungen auf Reisen durch Deutschland und Italien ("Geognistic Observations while Travelling through Germany and Italy", see below). He was at this time a zealous upholder of the Neptunian theory of Werner, with some modifications.
The main stories of Rapa Nui mythology are that of Hotu Matu'a, believed to be the first settler of Easter Island, and the Tangata manu. The Tangata manu is the mythology of the Birdman religion and cult which had creator god Makemake and competition with eggs to choose the birdman who would remain sacred for five months. More recent Rapa Nui mythology includes the story of the epic battle between the Hanau Epe and the Hanau Momoko. The trans-Neptunian dwarf planet Makemake is named after this creator deity.
Among the extreme trans-Neptunian objects are three high-perihelion objects classified as sednoids: 90377 Sedna, , and 541132 Leleākūhonua. They are distant detached objects with perihelia greater than 70 AU. Their high perihelia keep them at a sufficient distance to avoid significant gravitational perturbations from Neptune. Previous explanations for the high perihelion of Sedna include a close encounter with an unknown planet on a distant orbit and a distant encounter with a random star or a member of the Sun's birth cluster that passed near the Solar System.
' (provisionally designated , and nicknamed Drac) is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) and the first one with a retrograde orbit to be discovered. This retrograde motion with an orbital inclination of 103° suggests that it is the missing link between its source in the Hills cloud and Halley-type comets, thus providing further insight into the evolution of the outer Solar System. The object measures no more than across. With a semi-major axis of 42 AU, it takes about 269 years to complete an orbit around the Sun.
', is a non-resonant trans-Neptunian object and binary system from the Kuiper belt located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately in diameter. It was first observed on 18 November 1998, by American astronomer Marc Buie and Robert Millis at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, United States. In December 2000, a minor-planet moon, designated S/2000 () 1 with a diameter of , was discovered in its orbit. After Charon in 1978, it was the first of nearly 100 satellites since discovered in the outer Solar System.
', nicknamed Caju, is an extreme trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc on a highly eccentric and inclined orbit in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was first observed on 17 January 2015, by astronomers with the Dark Energy Survey at Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. The "likely" dwarf planet measures approximately in diameter. It has been described as an extended scattered disc object (ESDO), and fits into the group of extreme objects that led to the prediction of Planet Nine, and has the highest orbital inclination of any of these objects.
Kepler-1625b is an extrasolar planet (exoplanet) orbiting the yellow star Kepler-1625 about 2,500 parsecs away. A large gas giant, it is approximately the same radius as Jupiter and orbits its star every 287.4 days. In 2017, hints of a Neptune-sized exomoon in orbit of the planet was found using photometric observations collected by the Kepler Mission. Further evidence for a Neptunian moon was found the following year using the Hubble Space Telescope, where two independent lines of evidence constrained the mass and radius to be Neptune-like.
' belongs to a small group of detached objects with perihelion distances of 30 AU or more, and semi-major axes of 150 AU or more. Such extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs) can not reach such orbits without some perturbing object, which lead to the speculation of Planet Nine. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 39–270 AU once every 1923 years and 10 months (702,689 days; semi-major axis of 154.68 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.75 and an inclination of 20° with respect to the ecliptic.
Centaurs are a large population of icy bodies in transition between trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and Jupiter-family comets (JFCs), their orbits being unstable due to perturbations by the giant planets. Currently, Uranus controls Hylonomes perihelion and Neptune its aphelion. Hylonome is a carbonaceous C-type body that orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 18.9–31.4 AU once every 126 years and 2 months (46,073 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.25 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic.
', also written 2010 FX86', is a relatively bright trans-Neptunian object with an absolute magnitude of about 4.65. It was first discovered on 17 March 2010, at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, by S. S. Sheppard, A. Udalski and I. Soszynski. No earlier precovery images for it have been found. It is estimated to be about in diameter, with a rotation period of approximately 15.80 hours, but as yet no detailed photometry has been taken to properly determine colour or albedo, or to better confirm its rotational lightcurve.
Based on an absolute magnitude of 4.4, is estimated by the Johnston's Archive to be about in diameter, assuming a typical albedo of 0.09 for trans-Neptunian objects. Astronomer Mike Brown estimates a slightly smaller 549 km from the same albedo and a fainter 4.6 magnitude. The Asteroid Dynamic Site records a brighter 4.3 magnitude, which calculates to 612 km using the same albedo (and same formula as Johnston's); using the average of these magnitudes and a standard assumed minor planet albedo range of 0.25 ~ 0.05, possible sizes of 345 to 773 km are produced.
1993 RP might be a trans-Neptunian object, perhaps in diameter, from the Kuiper belt in the outermost Solar System. However, the object has only a 2-day observation arc, making the data insufficient to provide virtually any idea of its true orbit. It was first observed on 15 September 1993, by astronomers at the Mauna Kea Observatory, one night after and the night before . On the discovery date of 15 September 1993 the object was estimated to have been from Earth with an uncertainty in the object's distance of ±200 billion km.
Midpoints were known and used to calculate Arabian Lots or Parts, like part of fortune in the 3rd century. Guido Bonati used direct midpoints (1123-1300) in the 13th century to refine timings in an event chart. Alfred Witte was the first person to do a lot of investigation on midpoints using movable dials and together with Ludwig Rudolph and Herman Lefeldt formed the Hamburg School of Astrology and the technique with the use of Trans Neptunian points was called the Uranian Astrology.Alfred Witte & Friedrich Sieggrün: Immerwährende Ephemeride, Witte-Verlag, Hamburg 1935.
Ceres Ceres appears to be differentiated into a rocky core and icy mantle and may harbour a liquid-water ocean under its surface. Not enough is known of the larger trans-Neptunian objects to determine whether they are differentiated bodies capable of supporting oceans, although models of radioactive decay suggest that Pluto, Eris, Sedna, and Orcus have oceans beneath solid icy crusts approximately thick. In June 2020, astronomers reported evidence that the dwarf planet Pluto may have had a subsurface ocean, and consequently may have been habitable, when it was first formed.
Gurney Slade quarry Gurney Slade quarry, is a limestone quarry near Gurney Slade between Binegar and Holcombe, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. Gurney Slade quarry exhibits pale to very dark grey Carboniferous Limestone overlain by red and purple-coloured Triassic breccias and marls with a small faulted block of overlying Lower Jurassic breccias forming an angular unconformity with the Carboniferous Limestone. There is abundant vertical sediment infilled fissures and joints (Neptunian Dykes). The rocks contain varying amounts of calcite mineralization, and there is common fossil material associated with the Carboniferous and Jurassic limestones.
While the astronomical community widely agrees that Planet X, as originally envisioned, does not exist, the concept of an as-yet-unobserved planet has been revived by a number of astronomers to explain other anomalies observed in the outer Solar System. As of March 2014, observations with the WISE telescope have ruled out the possibility of a Saturn-sized object (95 Earth masses) out to 10,000 AU, and a Jupiter-sized (≈318 Earth masses) or larger object out to 26,000 AU. In 2014, based on similarities of the orbits of a group of recently discovered extreme trans-Neptunian objects, astronomers hypothesized the existence of a super- Earth planet, 2 to 15 times the mass of the Earth and beyond 200 AU with possibly a high inclined orbit at some 1,500 AU. In 2016, further work showed this unknown distant planet is likely on an inclined, eccentric orbit that goes no closer than about 200 AU and no farther than about 1,200 AU from the Sun. The orbit is predicted to be anti-aligned to the clustered extreme trans- Neptunian objects. Because Pluto is no longer considered a planet by the IAU, this new hypothetical object has become known as Planet Nine.
Gonggong is large enough to be able to retain trace amounts of volatile methane on its surface, even when at its closest distance to the Sun (33.7 AU), where temperatures are higher than that of Quaoar. In particular, the large size of Gonggong means that it is likely to retain trace amounts of other volatiles, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, and possibly nitrogen, which almost all trans-Neptunian objects lose over the course of their existence. Like Quaoar, Gonggong is expected to be near the mass limit at which it is able to retain those volatile materials on its surface.
Saussure had a thorough knowledge of the chemistry of the day and applied it to the study of minerals, water and air. His geological observations made him a firm believer in the Neptunian theory: He regarded all rocks and minerals as deposited from aqueous solution or suspension, and attached much importance to the study of meteorological conditions. His work with rocks, erosion, and fossils also led him to believe that the earth was much older than generally thought and formed part of the basis of Darwin's Theory of Evolution."Connections 2" with James Burke, Episode 4 "Whodunit".
Given its excellent optical qualities, the telescope has been used primarily for imaging and photometric work, in which it regularly outperforms much larger telescopes located elsewhere. Among the results from this telescope have been the discovery of MACHOs in the Andromeda Galaxy; the validation of the Stromvil photometric filter system; evidence for how the shape and dimensions of galaxies have changed over the age of the universe; discovery of the first binary 'Vesta chip' asteroid; and the characterization and classification by visible colors of some 100 trans- Neptunian objects, most of them fainter than magnitude 21.
Globular star cluster Omega Centauri as seen by the VST. In planetary science, the survey telescope aims to discover and study remote Solar System bodies such as trans-Neptunian objects, as well as search for extrasolar planet transits. The Galactic plane will also be extensively studied with VST, which will look for signatures of tidal interactions in the Milky Way, and will provide astronomers with data crucial to understand the structure and evolution of our Galaxy. Further afield, the VST will explore nearby galaxies, extragalactic and intra-cluster planetary nebulae, and will perform surveys of faint object and micro-lensing events.
Thus Ceres, at 950 km in diameter, is the smallest body for which gravitational measurements indicate current hydrostatic equilibrium. Much larger objects, such as Earth's moon, are not near hydrostatic equilibrium today, though they are primarily composed of silicate rock and iron respectively (in contrast to most dwarf planet candidates, which are ice and rock). Saturn's moons may have been subject to a thermal history that would have produced equilibrium-like shapes in bodies too small for gravity alone to do so. Thus, at present it is unknown whether any trans-Neptunian objects smaller than Pluto and Eris are in hydrostatic equilibrium.
Orbital diagram of Hidalgo Hidalgo orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–9.5 AU once every 13 years and 9 months (5,024 days; semi-major axis of 5.74 AU). Its orbit has a high eccentricity of 0.66 and an inclination of 43° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation on 31 October 1920. With a semi-major axis between that of Jupiter (5.2 AU) and Neptune (30.1 AU), Hidalgo is a member of the dynamically unstable population of centaurs, located between the classical asteroids and the trans-Neptunian objects.
The Minor Planet Center classifies it both as main-belt asteroid and unusual object due to an orbital eccentricity higher than 0.5. Hidalgo has traditionally been considered an asteroid because centaurs were not recognized as a distinct class until the discovery of 2060 Chiron in 1977. Alternatively, cis-Neptunian object and distant object are more generic terms that also includes objects further out the Solar System. Hidalgo orbit takes it to the inner edge of the asteroid belt and as far out as to the orbit of Saturn (9.0–10.1 AU), a characteristic normally associated with Saturn's family of comets.
Simulation showing outer planets and planetesimal belt: (a) Early configuration, before Jupiter (green) and Saturn (orange) reach 2:1 resonance; (b) Scattering of planetesimals into the inner Solar System after the orbital shift of Neptune (dark blue) and Uranus (light blue); (c) After ejection of planetesimals by planets. In the Nice model the Late Heavy Bombardment is the result of a dynamical instability in the outer Solar System. The original Nice model simulations by Gomes et al. began with the Solar System's giant planets in a tight orbital configuration surrounded by a rich trans-Neptunian belt.
The strongest part of decametric emission, which is related to Io and to the Io–Jupiter current system, is called Io-DAM.Zarka, 1998, pp. 20,160–168 The spectrum of Jovian radio emissions compared with spectra of four other magnetized planets, where (N,T,S,U)KR means (Neptunian, Terrestrial, Saturnian and Uranian) kilometric radiation The majority of these emissions are thought to be produced by a mechanism called "cyclotron maser instability", which develops close to the auroral regions. Electrons moving parallel to the magnetic field precipitate into the atmosphere while those with a sufficient perpendicular velocity are reflected by the converging magnetic field.
Since Dyson's proposal, the number of trans- Neptunian objects known has increased greatly. Colonists could live in the dwarf planet's icy crust or mantle, using fusion or geothermal heat and mining the soft-ice or liquid inner ocean for volatiles and minerals. Given the light gravity and resulting lower pressure in the ice mantle or inner ocean, colonizing the rocky core's outer surface might give colonists the largest number of mineral and volatile resources as well as insulating them from cold. Surface habitats or domes are another possibility, as background radiation levels are likely to be low.
Modeling has suggested that this can be explained if underneath Pluto's water ice crust is a layer of methane hydrate. This clathrate has insulating properties; its thermal conductivity is about 5–10 times less than that of water ice (it also has a viscosity roughly an order of magnitude greater than that of water ice). The additional insulation would help to maintain the layer of water below it in a liquid state, as well as keep the ice crust above it cool. A similar mechanism may contribute to the formation of subsurface oceans on other outer Solar System satellites and trans-Neptunian objects.
Haumea's mass is about one-third that of Pluto, and 1/1400 that of Earth. Although its shape has not been directly observed, calculations from its light curve are consistent with it being a Jacobi ellipsoid (the shape it would be if it's a dwarf planet), with its major axis twice as long as its minor. In October 2017, astronomers announced the discovery of a ring system around Haumea, representing the first ring system discovered for a trans-Neptunian object. Haumea's gravity was until recently thought to be sufficient for it to have relaxed into hydrostatic equilibrium, though that is now unclear.
The 1.35m telescope has been used in the hunt for Planet 9 and more trans Neptunian objects, supernovae and also finding the oldest known star in the universe. Solaris 3, operated by the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center as part of a network across the Southern hemisphere, is a single 0.5-metre telescope, using a new method referred to as eclipse timing to search for exoplanets. They have also added an astrograph to their telescope, giving it dual purpose. Jaxa, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, operate four 0.25-metre telescopes, searching and tracking space debris and near earth objects in the Southern hemisphere.
The halting of Jupiter's and Saturn's migration and the capture of Uranus and Neptune in further resonances may have prevented the formation of a compact system of super-earths similar to many of those found by Kepler. The outward migration of planets can also result in the capture of planetesimals in resonance with the outer planet; for example the resonant trans-Neptunian objects in the Kuiper belt. Although planetary migration is expected to lead to systems with chains of resonant planets most exoplanets are not in resonances. The resonance chains can be disrupted by gravitational instabilities once the gas disk dissipates.
A formal minor planet designation is, in its final form, a number–name combination given to a minor planet (asteroid, centaur, trans-Neptunian object and dwarf planet but not comet). Such designation always features a leading number (catalog or IAU number) assigned to a body once its orbital path is sufficiently secured (so-called "numbering"). The formal designation is based on the minor planet's provisional designation, which was previously assigned automatically when it had been observed for the first time. Later on, the provisional part of the formal designation may be replaced with a name (so- called "naming").
Varuna's apparent magnitude, its brightness as seen from Earth, varies from 19.5 to 20 magnitudes. At opposition, its apparent magnitude can reach up 20.3 magnitudes. Combined thermal measurements from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Herschel Space Observatory in 2013 obtained a visual absolute magnitude (HV) of 3.76, comparable to that of the similarly-sized Kuiper belt object (HV=3.83). Varuna is among the twenty brightest trans- Neptunian objects known, despite the Minor Planet Center assuming an absolute magnitude of 3.6. The surface of Varuna is dark, with a measured geometric albedo of 0.127 based on thermal observations in 2013.
' is a trans-Neptunian object that orbits the Sun in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune. This TNO briefly garnered scientific attention when it was found to have an unexpectedly low density of about 0.82 g/cm3. (55637) 2002 UX has an absolute magnitude of about 4.0, and Spitzer Space Telescope results estimate it to be about 681 km in diameter. The low density of this and many other mid sized TNO's implies that they have likely never compressed into fully solid bodies, let alone differentiated or collapsed into hydrostatic equilibrium, and so are highly unlikely to be dwarf planets.
On 24 May 1981, they detected a dip in a star's brightness during one occultation; however, the manner in which the star dimmed did not suggest a ring. Later, after the Voyager fly-by, it was found that the occultation was due to the small Neptunian moon Larissa, a highly unusual event. In the 1980s, significant occultations were much rarer for Neptune than for Uranus, which lay near the Milky Way at the time and was thus moving against a denser field of stars. Neptune's next occultation, on 12 September 1983, resulted in a possible detection of a ring.
'Vanth, full designation ', is the single known natural satellite of the plutino and likely dwarf planet 90482 Orcus. With a diameter of about 440 km, it is half the size of Orcus and probably the third-largest known moon of a known trans-Neptunian object, after Pluto I Charon and Eris I Dysnomia, though it is possible that the poorly resolved Varda I Ilmarë or Haumea I Hiiaka might be comparable in size. Vanth was discovered by Michael Brown and T.-A. Suer using discovery images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on 13 November 2005.
The provisional designation indicates that it was the first Neptunian satellite identified in images dating from 2004. Follow-up Hubble observations of Hippocamp were conducted by Showalter in 2016, and the moon was later given its permanent Roman numeral designation by the Minor Planet Center after its recovery. Hippocamp was formally numbered as Neptune XIV (14) on 25 September 2018, though it remained without an official name until February 2019. By the International Astronomical Union's (IAU's) nomenclature guidelines, name proposals for Neptune's moons must be based on a figure from Greco-Roman mythology with a relationship to Poseidon or Neptune.
Its small size at this location runs counter to a trend among the other regular Neptunian satellites of increasing diameter with increasing distance from the primary. Being situated at a relatively close distance to the much larger Proteus, Hippocamp is subjected to its significant gravitational influence. Its orbit is particularly sensitive to the mass of Proteus; orbital solutions using a variety of assumed masses for Proteus show that Hippocamp displays a significant in-orbit difference of around . This can allow for an estimate of the mass of Proteus by observing its influence on Hippocamp's orbit for over a period of several decades.
This value would've made it the eighth-intrinsically-brightest known trans- Neptunian object, but it was later found to be much dimmer. It has an absolute magnitude (H) of 4.5, which would make it a good dwarf-planet candidate when using an albedo of 0.09. However, it is probably much smaller than previously thought, since it is also suspected of being a highly reflective icy member of the Haumea family. ' has been found to be a member of the Haumea family fragment due to its Haumea-like orbit and the detection of water ice on its surface.
Orbital diagram of is one of two known resonant trans-Neptunian objects that stay in a distant 1:9 resonance with the ice giant Neptune. The other object is which was announced on 20 February 2018.Orbit Fit and Astrometric record for 07TC434 They are currently the most distant resonant objects known with a secure resonant classification, and their detection allowed to estimate a 1:9-resonant population of 11 thousand objects with similar orbits and similar size. It is thought that both objects originated from the scattered disc before they became locked into a mean-motion resonance with Neptune.
Pluto is considered to be a higher octave of Mars, and this is evidenced by the fact that both planets co-rule Scorpio. Pluto, circling the Sun in 248 years, has a rather elliptical orbit, which means that it stays in the sign it rules, Scorpio, for a mere 9 years, and the sign of its fall, Taurus for 30! With this in mind, some astrologers believe that Pluto should rightfully rule Taurus, but for the time being it still rules Scorpio. As other trans-Neptunian object planets are discovered, however, this placement just might have to be reconsidered.
The three inner Galilean moons of Jupiter, Io, Europa and Ganymede, are locked in a complicated 1:2:4 resonance called a Laplace resonance. Ketakar suggested that Uranus, Neptune and his hypothetical trans-Neptunian planets were locked in Laplace-like resonances. His calculations predicted a mean distance for Brahma of 38.95 AU and an orbital period of 242.28 Earth years (3:4 resonance with Neptune). When Pluto was discovered 19 years later, its mean distance of 39.48 AU and orbital period of 248 Earth years were close to Ketakar's prediction (Pluto in fact has a 2:3 resonance with Neptune).
In 2005, astronomer Mike Brown and his team announced the discovery of (later named after the Greek goddess of discord and strife), a trans- Neptunian object then thought to be just barely larger than Pluto. Soon afterwards, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory press release described the object as the "tenth planet". Eris was never officially classified as a planet, and the 2006 definition of planet defined both Eris and Pluto not as planets but as dwarf planets because they have not cleared their neighbourhoods. They do not orbit the Sun alone, but as part of a population of similarly sized objects.
Pluto itself is now recognized as being a member of the Kuiper belt and the largest dwarf planet, larger than the more-massive Eris. A number of astronomers, most notably Alan Stern, the head of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, contend that the IAU's definition is flawed, and that Pluto and Eris, and all large trans-Neptunian objects, such as , , , and , should be considered planets in their own right. However, the discovery of Eris did not rehabilitate the Planet X theory because it is far too small to have significant effects on the outer planets' orbits.
It is thought that the objects that are currently in mean orbital resonances with Neptune initially followed a variety of independent heliocentric paths. As Neptune migrated outward early in the Solar System's history (see origins of the Kuiper belt), the bodies it approached would have been scattered; during this process, some of them would have been captured into resonances. The 3:2 resonance is a low-order resonance and is thus the strongest and most stable among all resonances. This is the primary reason it has a larger population than the other Neptunian resonances encountered in the Kuiper Belt.
The feature called Uranus Dark Spot (UDS) moved in the prograde direction relative Uranus's rotation with an average speed of , which is almost faster than the speed of clouds at the same latitude. The latitude of UDS was approximately constant. The feature was variable in size and appearance and was often accompanied by a bright white clouds called Bright Companion (BC), which moved with nearly the same speed as UDS itself. The behavior and appearance of UDS and its bright companion were similar to Neptunian Great Dark Spots (GDS) and their bright companions, respectively, though UDS was significantly smaller.
Donald R. Davis is an American astronomer specializing in the evolution of the Solar System. With William K. Hartmann, he was responsible for proposing a theory in 1975 of the creation of earth's moon by a catastrophic collision. He is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the co-discovery of the trans- Neptunian object in 1999. In 2009, he was Academic Director at the Summer Science Program. A few months later, Davis arranged for the naming of an asteroid as 223877 Kutler, after Brendan Kutler—a student, whom he had worked with in that program—died in his sleep.
While Ijiraq is a member of the Inuit group of irregular satellites, recent observations revealed that it is distinctively redder than Paaliaq, Siarnaq and Kiviuq. Its spectral slope (a measure of body reflectance in function of the wavelength) is twice as steep as that of other Inuit-group satellites (20% per 100 nm), typical for red trans-Neptunian objects like Sedna but unknown for irregular satellites. In addition, the Ijiraupian (Ijiraqan)The genitive form of Ijiraq is Ijiraup. Thus the adjectival form could be absolutive Ijiraqian or genitive Ijiraupian, parallel to nominative Venusian and genitive Venerian for Venus.
', also known as , is a trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc of the outermost reaches of the Solar System, approximately 78 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 9 September 2015, by the Outer Solar System Origins Survey using the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, United States. It is one a small number of detached objects with perihelion distances of 30 AUs or more, and semi-major axes of 200 AU or more.minorplanetcenter.net: q>30, a>200 Such objects can not reach such orbits without some perturbing object, which lead to the speculation of planet nine.
When the New Horizons spacecraft imaged in 2017, it was the farthest from Earth ever captured by a spacecraft. The image was taken by the spacecraft's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on 5 December 2017 at more than 6.12 billion kilometers (40.9 AU) away from Earth. This record was previously held by the Voyager 1 spacecraft which took the iconic Pale Blue Dot image at 6.06 billion kilometers from Earth in February 1990. In December 2017, New Horizons also imaged the trans-Neptunian object , which was first observed by the same team of astronomers the night after they discovered .
Concept art for the Pluto Kuiper Express; the last iteration of the original Pluto mission concepts, eventually cancelled in 2000. During the course of the late 1990s, a number of trans- Neptunian objects were discovered, confirming the existence of a Kuiper belt. Interest in a mission to the Kuiper belt arose such that NASA instructed the JPL to re-purpose the mission as not only a Pluto flyby, but also a Kuiper belt object (KBO) flyby. The mission was thus re-branded as the Pluto Kuiper Express, after briefly being billed as Pluto Express prior to the revision.
Before its official naming, Gonggong was the largest known unnamed object in the Solar System. Initially after the discovery of Gonggong, Brown nicknamed the object "Snow White" for its presumed white color based on his assumption that it may be a member of the icy Haumea collisional family. The nickname also fitted because, by that time, Brown's team had discovered seven other large trans-Neptunian objects which were collectively referred to as the "seven dwarfs": in 2002, in 2003, , and in 2004, and and in 2005. However, Gonggong turned out to be very red in color, comparable to Quaoar, so the nickname was dropped.
The Minor Planet Center classifies the trans-Neptunian object 90377 Sedna as a scattered-disc object. Its discoverer Michael E. Brown has suggested instead that it should be considered an inner Oort-cloud object rather than a member of the scattered disc, because, with a perihelion distance of 76 AU, it is too remote to be affected by the gravitational attraction of the outer planets. Under this definition, an object with a perihelion greater than 40 AU could be classified as outside the scattered disc. Sedna is not the only such object: (discovered before Sedna) and have a perihelion too far away from Neptune to be influenced by it.
The updated EPM2008 ephemerides are available to outside users via ftp. The works of Pitjeva have recently been used by several scientists to test several models of modified gravity in the Solar System. Dr. Pitjeva has also contributed to a better understanding an influence of asteroids and Trans- Neptunian Objects on the planets' motion. Recently Dr. Pitjeva collaborated with Dr. Standish and proposed to the IAU Working Group on Numerical Standards for Fundamental Astronomy (NSFA) the values of the masses of the three largest asteroids, the Moon-Earth mass ratio and the astronomical unit in meters, mainly obtained while fitting the constructed DE (JPL) and EPM (IAA RAS) planet ephemerides.
' is classified as a member of the dynamical Hilda group, as well as a main-belt comet that shows clear cometary activity, which has also been described as a "quasi Hilda comet". Orbital backward integration suggests that it might have been a centaur or trans-Neptunian object that ended its dynamical evolution as a quasi Hilda comet. It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.9–5.1 AU once every 7 years and 11 months (2,883 days; semi-major axis of 3.96 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.28 and an inclination of 16° with respect to the ecliptic.
Tombaugh continued searching for over a decade after the discovery of Pluto, and the lack of further discoveries left him satisfied that no other object of a comparable apparent magnitude existed near the ecliptic. No more trans-Neptunian objects were discovered until 15760 Albion in 1992. However, more recently the relatively bright object has been discovered. It has a relatively high orbital inclination, but at the time of Tombaugh's discovery of Pluto, Makemake was only a few degrees from the ecliptic near the border of Taurus and Aurigabased on Minor Planet Center online Minor Planet Ephemeris Service: March 1, 1930: RA: 05h51m, Dec: +29.0 at an apparent magnitude of 16.
Nessus is a centaur, a dynamically unstable population of minor planets between the classical asteroids and the trans- Neptunian objects. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 11.9–37.4 AU once every 122 years and 4 months (44,670 days; semi-major axis of 24.64 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.52 and an inclination of 16° with respect to the ecliptic. At its perihelion (11.9 AU), it moves much closer to the Sun than Uranus (19.2 AU) but not as close as Saturn (9.6 AU), while at its aphelion (37.4 AU), it moves out well beyond the orbit of Neptune (30.1 AU).
Chadwick A. Trujillo (born November 22, 1973) is an American astronomer, discoverer of minor planets and the co-discoverer of Eris, the most massive dwarf planet known in the Solar System. Trujillo works with computer software and has examined the orbits of the numerous trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), which is the outer area of the Solar System that he specialized in. In late August 2005, it was announced that Trujillo, along with Michael Brown and David Rabinowitz, had discovered Eris in 2003. As a result of the discovery of the satellite Dysnomia, Eris was the first TNO known to be more massive than Pluto.
'Dysnomia (formally (136199) Eris I Dysnomia) is the only known moon of the dwarf planet Eris and likely the second-largest known moon of a dwarf planet, after Pluto I Charon. It was discovered in 2005 by Mike Brown and the laser guide star adaptive optics team at the W. M. Keck Observatory, and carried the provisional designation of ' until officially named Dysnomia (from the Ancient Greek word meaning anarchy/lawlessness) after the daughter of the Greek goddess Eris. Dysnomia has an estimated diameter of (25% to 35% of Eris's diameter), and is among the dozen or so largest objects in the trans-Neptunian region.
It also had the advantage of measuring an observable quality. Suggested criteria involving the nature of formation would have been more likely to see accepted planets later declassified as scientific understanding improved. Additionally, the definition kept Pluto as a planet. Pluto's planetary status was and is fondly thought of by many, especially in the United States since Pluto was found by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, and the general public could have been alienated from professional astronomers; there was considerable uproar when the media last suggested, in 1999, that Pluto might be demoted, which was a misunderstanding of a proposal to catalog all trans-Neptunian objects uniformly.
The term most frequently refers to the school of astrology founded by Ebertin. The main difference between Witte's Hamburg School and Ebertin's Cosmobiology is that Cosmobiology rejects the hypothetical Trans-Neptunian objects used by the Hamburg School and practitioners of Uranian astrology. Another difference is the significant expansion of Cosmobiology into medical astrology, Dr. Ebertin being a physician. Cosmobiology continued Witte's ultimate primary emphasis on the use of astrological midpoints along with the following 8th-harmonic aspects in the natal chart, which both Witte and Ebertin found to be the most potent in terms of personal influence: conjunction (0°), semi-square (45°), square (90°), sesquiquadrate (135°), and opposition (180°).
Haumea (minor-planet designation 136108 Haumea) is a likely dwarf planet located beyond Neptune's orbit. It was discovered in 2004 by a team headed by Mike Brown of Caltech at the Palomar Observatory in the United States and independently in 2005 by a team headed by José Luis Ortiz Moreno at the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain, though the latter claim has been contested. On September 17, 2008, it was named after Haumea, the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth, under the expectation by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) that it would prove to be a dwarf planet. It is probably the third- largest known trans-Neptunian object, after Eris and Pluto.
Neptune in the sky of Triton (simulated view) Triton, Neptune's largest moon, has an atmosphere, but it is so thin that its sky is still black, possibly with some pale haze at the horizon. Because Triton orbits with synchronous rotation, Neptune always appears in the same position in its sky. Triton's rotation axis is inclined 130° to Neptune's orbital plane and thus points within 40° of the Sun twice per Neptunian year, much like Uranus's. As Neptune orbits the Sun, Triton's polar regions take turns facing the Sun for 82 years at a stretch, resulting in radical seasonal changes as one pole, then the other, moves into the sunlight.
Nicholson is a member of the Visual Infrared Mapping Spectrometer science team on the NASA/ESA Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn, and was the leader of a team of Cornell and Caltech astronomers studying the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter in July 1994 using the Hale Telescope. He has served on the Committees on Planetary and Lunar Exploration and on Astronomy and Astrophysics of the National Research Council, time assignment committees for the Kuiper Airborne Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, and scientific advisory committees for Arecibo and IPAC. He has coauthored review articles on planetary ring dynamics and on the Uranian and Neptunian ring systems.
2013 FQ28 is located near the "gap", a poorly understood region. orbits the Sun at a distance of 45.8–80.1 AU once every 499 years and 5 months (182,422 days; semi-major axis of 62.95 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.27 and an inclination of 26° with respect to the ecliptic. With an orbital period of 499 years, and similar to , it seems to be a resonant trans-Neptunian objects in a 1:3 resonance with Neptune, as several other objects, but with a lower eccentricity (0.27 instead of more than 0.60) and a higher perihelia (at 45.8 AU rather than 31–41 AU).
With a semi- major axis larger than that of Neptune, is generically classified as a trans- Neptunian object. It is also considered an (extended) centaur, due to its eccentric orbit with a low perihelion of 8.7 AU and a higher- than-90°-inclination, which gives it a retrograde orbit. There are only about a hundred known retrograde minor planets out of nearly 800,000 observed bodies, and, together with and , it is among the largest such objects. also meets the orbital definition for being a damocloid, a cometary-like object without a coma or tail and a Tisserand's parameter with respect to Jupiter of less than 2 besides a retrograde orbit.
Tombaugh (1946). After revising his predicted possible locations, Lowell conducted a second search from 1914 to 1916. In 1915, he published his Memoir of a Trans-Neptunian Planet, in which he concluded that Planet X had a mass roughly seven times that of Earth—about half that of Neptune—and a mean distance from the Sun of 43 AU. He assumed Planet X would be a large, low-density object with a high albedo, like the giant planets. As a result, it would show a disc with diameter of about one arcsecond and an apparent magnitude between 12 and 13—bright enough to be spotted.
When Sedna was discovered, its extreme orbit raised questions about its origin. Its perihelion is so distant (approximately 76 AU) that no currently observed mechanism can explain Sedna's eccentric distant orbit. It is too far from the planets to have been affected by the gravity of Neptune or the other giant planets and too bound to the Sun to be affected by outside forces such as the galactic tides. Hypotheses to explain its orbit include that it was affected by a passing star, that it was captured from another planetary system, or that it was tugged into its current position by a trans-Neptunian planet.
On 6 September 1940 U-65 sighted the convoy and notified BdU and the others, but was unable to attack in heavy seas. U-101 fell out of the chase with engine trouble, leaving only U-47 to join the attack. Early hours of 7 September U 47 made a series of attacks, succeeded in sinking three ships, the freighters Neptunian, Jose de Larrinaga and the Norwegian, Gro. On the same day SC 2 was joined by its Western Approaches escort, a mixed bag of 2 destroyers, a sloop, a corvette and 2 trawlers, which arrived from other duties at various times during the day.
'229762 Gǃkúnǁʼhòmdímà, provisional designation ', is a trans-Neptunian object and binary system from the extended scattered disc, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 19 October 2007 by American astronomers Megan Schwamb, Michael Brown, and David Rabinowitz at the Palomar Observatory in California and measures approximately in diameter. This medium sized TNO appears to be representative of a class of mid-sized objects under approximately 1000 km that have not collapsed into fully solid bodies. Its 100-kilometer moon was discovered by Keith Noll, Will Grundy, and colleagues with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2008, and named Gǃòʼé ǃHú.
In 2005, he became a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2007, he was made an Adjunct Professor of the National Central University of Taiwan. In 2012, he was awarded the $1 million Shaw Prize for astronomy. jointly with his former student Jane X. Luu of MIT's Lincoln Laboratury, in recognition of their "discovery and characterization of trans-Neptunian bodies, an archaeological treasure dating back to the formation of the solar system and the long sought source of short period comets".
Eris. The hand of Eris (shown at right) and other proposed symbols are used informally in certain circles; however, it is unlikely that Eris, the trans-Neptunian dwarf planet, will be assigned an official symbol by the IAU, since graphical symbols are rarely assigned to minor objects in modern times.Keiron Le Grice: Discovering Eris: The Symbolism and Significance of a New Planetary Archetype. Edinburgh 2012, A request to the Unicode Consortium to add the hand as a unicode symbol to represent the planet, along with a symbol for 90377 Sedna, was filed in 2016 and accepted the same year, releasing with Unicode 11 as ERIS FORM ONE.
Proteus, like the other inner moons of Neptune, is unlikely to be an original body that formed with it, and is more likely to have accreted from the rubble that was produced after Triton's capture. Triton's orbit upon capture would have been highly eccentric, and would have caused chaotic perturbations in the orbits of the original inner Neptunian moons, causing them to collide and reduce to a disc of rubble. Only after Triton's orbit became circularised did some of the rubble disc re-accrete into the present-day moons of Neptune. Proteus initially had a smaller orbit around Neptune, and may have formed closer to the planet.
The discrepancy of the presence of water ice between the visible and infrared spectra of Huya was interpreted as an indication of heterogeneity in Huya's surface composition. Huya's surface is homogeneously covered with trace amounts of water ice, as subtle water ice absorption features recur in multiple observations of Huya's visible spectrum over the course of its rotation. Early observations of Huya's spectrum in 2000 have identified a red spectral slope at wavelengths around 0.7 μm, typical of dark trans-Neptunian objects. Additional near-infrared absorption features were also identified, and were attributed to the presence of aqueously altered silicate minerals on Huya's surface.
88611 Teharonhiawako, or (88611) Teharonhiawako-Sawiskera as a binary, is a trans-Neptunian object and a member of the cold classical Kuiper belt, measuring about 220 km in diameter. It is a binary object, with a large companion named Sawiskera (formally designated (88611) Teharonhiawako I Sawiskera), which at 126 km in diameter is about two-thirds the size of its primary. Teharonhiawako was discovered on August 20, 2001, by the Deep Ecliptic Survey, and Sawiskera was identified a month later. The primary is named after Teharonhia꞉wako, a god of maize in the Iroquois creation myth, while the secondary is named after his evil twin brother Sawiskera.
Ilmarë,Stressed on the first syllable or Varda I', full designation ', is the single known natural satellite of the Kuiper belt object and possible dwarf planet 174567 Varda. It was discovered by Keith Noll et al. in 2009, at a separation of about 0.12 arcsec, using discovery images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on 26 April 2009, and reported in 2011. At approximately 326 km in diameter (about 45% that of its primary), it is the fourth or fifth- largest known moon of a trans-Neptunian object, after Pluto I Charon, Eris I Dysnomia, Orcus I Vanth and very possibly Haumea I Hiʻiaka.
', is a trans-Neptunian object discovered by Cerro Tololo Observatory, La Serena, Chile on September 28, 2003. It is one of a small number of detached objects with perihelion distances of 30 AUs or more, and semi-major axes of 200 AU or more.minorplanetcenter.net: q>30, a>150 It is thought that objects cannot reach such orbits without some perturbing object outside the eight planets, which has led to the speculation of Planet Nine. A search of SDSS images of the region where would have been in 2001 turned up no conclusive detections of the object, indicating it is either much dimmer than expected or on a very different orbit.
Additional photometric measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 instrument display similar absorption bands at 1.5 μm, which are characteristic features of water ice, a substance often found on large Kuiper belt objects. The presence of water ice on the surface of Gonggong implies a brief period of cryovolcanism in the distant past, when water erupted from its interior, deposited onto its surface, and subsequently froze. Gonggong is among the reddest trans-Neptunian objects known, especially in the visible and near-infrared. Its red color is unexpected for an object with a substantial amount of water ice on its surface, which are typically neutral in color, hence why Gonggong was initially nicknamed "Snow White".
Reinhold Ebertin, a (unofficial) student of Hamburg School methods, eliminated the use of the hypothetical trans-neptunian objects while maintaining the core teachings of the Hamburg School, renamed them "Cosmobiology" (), and published them in The Combination of Stellar Influences in 1940, last updated in English in 1972. After the fall of the Third Reich, the Hamburg School reconvened,The association was re-founded as “Astrologische Studiengesellschaft (Hamburger Schule)” , engl. “Astrological Study Society (Hamburg School)”, December 27th, 1947, 6:38 PM (GMT), in Hamburg, by Ludwig Rudolph, Johann Rose, Hermann Lefeldt, Werner Ritter, Heinrich Schacht, Friedrich Heeger, Albert Berndt, Otto Wilms and Willi Hellberg. References: cover pages and articles in the Journal “Hamburger Hefte” 4/1998 and 3/1999.
Mike Brown—who made the Planet Nine hypothesis—makes an observation that "all of the known distant objects which are pulled even a little bit away from the Kuiper seem to be clustered under the influence of this hypothetical planet (specifically, objects with semimajor axis > 100 AU and perihelion > 42 AU)." Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Ralph de la Fuente Marcos have calculated that some of the statistically significant commensurabilities are compatible with the Planet Nine hypothesis; in particular, a number of objects which are called Extreme trans Neptunian objects (ETNOs). may be trapped in the 5:3 and 3:1 mean-motion resonances with a putative Planet Nine with a semimajor axis ∼700 AU.
However, these moons are all much more distant from their primaries, and are small in comparison; the largest of them (Phoebe) has only 8% of the diameter (and 0.03% of the mass) of Triton. Triton's orbit is associated with two tilts, the obliquity of Neptune's rotation to Neptune's orbit, 30°, and the inclination of Triton's orbit to Neptune's rotation, 157° (an inclination over 90° indicates retrograde motion). Triton's orbit precesses forward relative to Neptune's rotation with a period of about 678 Earth years (4.1 Neptunian years), making its Neptune-orbit-relative inclination vary between 127° and 180°. That inclination is currently 130°; Triton's orbit is now near its maximum departure from coplanarity with Neptune's.
Triton is only slightly larger than Pluto and nearly identical in composition, which has led to the hypothesis that the two share a common origin. The proposed capture of Triton may explain several features of the Neptunian system, including the extremely eccentric orbit of Neptune's moon Nereid and the scarcity of moons as compared to the other giant planets. Triton's initially eccentric orbit would have intersected orbits of irregular moons and disrupted those of smaller regular moons, dispersing them through gravitational interactions. Triton's eccentric post-capture orbit would have also resulted in tidal heating of its interior, which could have kept Triton fluid for a billion years; this inference is supported by evidence of differentiation in Triton's interior.
The first spectroscopic observations in 2004 showed that the visible spectrum of Orcus is flat (neutral in color) and featureless, whereas in the near-infrared there were moderately strong water absorption bands at 1.5 and 2.0 μm. The neutral visible spectrum and strong water absorption bands of Orcus showed that Orcus appeared different from other trans-Neptunian objects, which typically have a red visible spectrum and often featureless infrared spectra. Further infrared observations in 2004 by the European Southern Observatory and the Gemini telescope gave results consistent with mixtures of water ice and carbonaceous compounds, such as tholins. The water and methane ices can cover no more than 50 percent and 30 percent of the surface, respectively.
Among Solar System bodies, Ceres is intermediate in size between the smaller asteroid Vesta and the larger moon Tethys, and approximately the size of the large trans-Neptunian object . Its surface area is approximately the same as the land area of India or Argentina.Approximately forty percent that of Australia, a third the size of the US or Canada, 12× that of the UK In July 2018, NASA released a comparison of physical features found on Ceres with similar ones present on Earth. Ceres is the smallest object likely to be in hydrostatic equilibrium, being 600 km smaller and less than half the mass of Saturn's moon Rhea, the next smallest likely (but unproven) object.
2004 VN112 orbit in red with hypothetical Planet Nine was discovered by the ESSENCE supernova survey on November 6, 2004 observing with the 4 m Blanco Telescope from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.Discovery MPEC Its orbit is characterized by high eccentricity (0.850), moderate inclination (25.58º) and a semi-major axis of 316 AU. Upon discovery, it was classified as a trans-Neptunian object. Its orbit is well determined; as of January 11, 2017 its orbital solution is based on 34 observations spanning a data-arc of 5821 days. has an absolute magnitude of 6.5 which gives a characteristic diameter of 130 to 300 km for an assumed albedo in the range 0.25–0.05.
2013 RF98 orbit in green (upper left) with hypothetical Planet Nine was discovered by the Dark Energy Survey on September 12, 2013 observing with the 4 m Blanco Telescope from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Its orbit is characterized by high eccentricity (0.897), moderate inclination (29.57º) and a semi-major axis of 349 AU. Upon discovery, it was classified as a trans- Neptunian object. Its orbit is relatively well determined; as of January 11, 2017 its orbital solution is based on 51 observations spanning a data-arc of 1092 days. has an absolute magnitude of 8.7 which gives a characteristic diameter of 50 to 120 km for an assumed albedo in the range 0.25–0.05.
In 2000, this object came closest to the Sun (perihelion) at 26.3 AU, and has since moved away to a distance of 29.2 AU by the end of 2018. This means that this small plutino is still well inside the orbit of Neptune which has a semi-major axis of 30.1 AU. Like Pluto, this plutino spends part of its orbit closer to the Sun than Neptune. Like all resonant trans-Neptunian objects its orbit is dominated by Neptune. Simulations by the Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) show that over the next 10 million years can acquire a perihelion distance (qmin) as small as 25.9 AU. Objects like Huya and the plutino are also currently inside the orbit of Neptune.
Hence a gravitational explanation would need to violate the equivalence principle, which states that all objects are affected the same way by gravity. It was therefore argued Also published in that increasingly accurate measurements and modelling of the motions of the outer planets and their satellites undermined the possibility that the Pioneer anomaly is a phenomenon of gravitational origin. However, others believed that our knowledge of the motions of the outer planets and dwarf planet Pluto was still insufficient to disprove the gravitational nature of the Pioneer anomaly. The same authors ruled out the existence of a gravitational Pioneer-type extra-acceleration in the outskirts of the Solar System by using a sample of Trans-Neptunian objects.
Vilas has been active in the leadership of the planetary science community, serving as Secretary- Treasurer of the Division of Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society from 1992-1995, after which she was elected Vice Chair (1995-1996) and succeeded to Chair (1996-1997). As Chair of the DPS, Vilas played a key role in establishing the Carl Sagan Medal, which was the first major statement in support of the importance of communicating our science with the public. Vilas served as the first chair of the Small Bodies Assessment Group (2007-2009), chartered by NASA to identify scientific priorities and opportunities for the exploration of asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust, small satellites, and Trans-Neptunian Objects.
Much of the surface of Triton is covered in the hexagonal form of solid nitrogen (the β crystal phase), which can be seen as a bluish green band around the equator in this synthetic color photomosaic. Solid nitrogen forms a large part of the surface of Pluto and the Neptunian moon Triton. On Pluto it was directly observed for the first time in July 2015 by the New Horizons space probe and on Triton it was directly observed by the Voyager 2 space probe in August 1989. On Triton, solid nitrogen takes the form of frost crystals and a transparent sheet layer of annealed nitrogen ice, often referred to as a "glaze".
In 1909, Thomas Jefferson Jackson See, an astronomer with a reputation as an egocentric contrarian, opined "that there is certainly one, most likely two and possibly three planets beyond Neptune". Tentatively naming the first planet "Oceanus", he placed their respective distances at 42, 56 and 72 AU from the Sun. He gave no indication as to how he determined their existence, and no known searches were mounted to locate them. In 1911, Indian astronomer Venkatesh P. Ketakar suggested the existence of two trans-Neptunian planets, which he named Brahma and Vishnu, by reworking the patterns observed by Pierre-Simon Laplace in the planetary satellites of Jupiter and applying them to the outer planets.
The Edgeworth-Kuiper belt contains objects with an average distance to the Sun of 30 to about 55 AU, usually having close-to-circular orbits with a small inclination from the ecliptic. Edgeworth-Kuiper belt objects are further classified into the resonant trans-Neptunian object, that are locked in an orbital resonance with Neptune, and the classical Kuiper belt objects, also called "cubewanos", that have no such resonance, moving on almost circular orbits, unperturbed by Neptune. There are a large number of resonant subgroups, the largest being the twotinos (1:2 resonance) and the plutinos (2:3 resonance), named after their most prominent member, Pluto. Members of the classical Edgeworth-Kuiper belt include 15760 Albion, 50000 Quaoar and Makemake.
The Kuiper belt object is considered to be a resonant trans-Neptunian object in a higher 5:9 orbital resonance with the ice giant Neptune. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 40.2–49.6 AU once every 300 years and 10 months (semi-major axis of 44.9 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its official first observation by David Osip, Paul Schechter, David Borncamp, Susan Benecchi and Scott Sheppard of the New Horizons KBO Search using the Magellan II (Clay) telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory, located in the Atacama desert in Chile.
A large number of trans- Neptunian objects (TNOs) – minor planets orbiting beyond the orbit of Neptune – have been discovered in recent years. Many TNOs have orbits with an aphelion (farthest distance to the Sun) far beyond Neptune's orbit at 30.1 AU. Some of these TNOs with an extreme aphelion are detached objects such as , which always reside in the outermost region of the Solar System, while for other TNOs, the extreme aphelion is due to an exceptionally high eccentricity such as for , which orbits the Sun at a distance between 4.1 (closer than Jupiter) and 2200 AU (70 times farther from the Sun than Neptune). The following is a list of TNOs with the largest aphelion in descending order.
As of 2019, the total mass of the Salacia–Actaea system is estimated at , with an average system density of ; Salacia itself is estimated to be around 846 km in diameter. Salacia has the lowest albedo of any known large trans-Neptunian object. Salacia was previously believed to have a mass of around , in which case it would also have had the lowest density (around ) of any known large TNO; William Grundy and colleagues proposed that this low density would imply that Salacia never collapsed into a solid body, in which case it would not be in hydrostatic equilibrium. Salacia's infrared spectrum is almost featureless, indicating an abundance of water ice of less than 5% on the surface.
This delineation is inadequate (as they note) over the age of the Solar System, since bodies "trapped in resonances" could "pass from a scattering phase to a non-scattering phase (and vice versa) numerous times." That is, trans-Neptunian objects could travel back and forth between the Kuiper belt and the scattered disc over time. Therefore, they chose instead to define the regions, rather than the objects, defining the scattered disc as "the region of orbital space that can be visited by bodies that have encountered Neptune" within the radius of a Hill sphere, and the Kuiper belt as its "complement ... in the a > 30 AU region"; the region of the Solar System populated by objects with semi-major axes greater than 30 AU.
In addition to reproducing the positions and eccentricities of the outer planets, the original Nice model provided for the origin of: the Jupiter trojans, and the Neptune trojans; the irregular satellites of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; the various populations of trans-Neptunian objects; the magnitude of, and with the right initial conditions, the timing of the Late Heavy Bombardment. However, sweeping secular resonances would perturb the orbits of inner Solar System objects if Jupiter's migration was slow and smooth. The ν5 secular resonance crosses the orbits of the terrestrial planets exciting their eccentricities. While Jupiter and Saturn slowly approach their 2:1 resonance the eccentricity of Mars reaches values that can result in collisions between planets or in Mars being ejected from the Solar System.
In his early writings between 1919 and 1925 (his first was 1913), he experimented with numerous historical astrology techniques, including the astrological houses,Uranian Systems of Houses, United Astrology Conference 2012, Saturday, 26 May 2012 Uranian Systems of Houses, The 6th IUF-Conference, Bangkok, 28–29 January 2012. planetary formulae a+b-c = c similar to Arabic parts, and for a brief period a new scheme of planetary rulerships.Uranian Sign Rulership by Alfred Witte His approach to astrology was to verify assumptions by current reality checks rather than historical validation. He sought to approach astrology as a science, and the controversy over his assertion of the existence of Trans- Neptunian objects other than Pluto led to widespread ridicule and rejection during his later years.
It is clear that comets coming in from the Oort cloud often have their orbits strongly influenced by the gravity of giant planets as a result of a close encounter. Jupiter is the source of the greatest perturbations, being more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined. These perturbations can deflect long-period comets into shorter orbital periods. Based on their orbital characteristics, short-period comets are thought to originate from the centaurs and the Kuiper belt/scattered disc —a disk of objects in the trans-Neptunian region—whereas the source of long- period comets is thought to be the far more distant spherical Oort cloud (after the Dutch astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort who hypothesized its existence).
In engineering, Theodore von Kármán made many key advances in aerodynamics, notably his work on supersonic and hypersonic airflow characterization. A repeating pattern of swirling vortices is named after him, the von Kármán vortex street. Participants in von Kármán's GALCIT project included Frank Malina, who helped develop the WAC Corporal, which was the first U.S. rocket to reach the edge of space, Jack Parsons, a pioneer in the development of liquid and solid rocket fuels who designed the first castable composite-based rocket motor, and Qian Xuesen, who was dubbed the "Father of Chinese Rocketry". More recently, Michael Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy, discovered many trans-Neptunian objects, most notably the dwarf planet Eris, which prompted the International Astronomical Union to redefine the term "planet".
Tombaugh created his photographic plates using this astrograph While a young researcher working for the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Tombaugh was given the job to perform a systematic search for a trans- Neptunian planet (also called Planet X), which had been predicted by Percival Lowell based on calculations performed by his student mathematician Elizabeth Williams and William Pickering. Pluto Starting 6 April, 1929, Tombaugh used the observatory's astrograph to take photographs of the same section of sky several nights apart. He then used a blink comparator to compare the different images. When he shifted between the two images, a moving object, such as a planet, would appear to jump from one position to another, while the more distant objects such as stars would appear stationary.
Each of the proposed mechanisms for Sedna's extreme orbit would leave a distinct mark on the structure and dynamics of any wider population. If a trans-Neptunian planet were responsible, all such objects would share roughly the same perihelion (≈80 AU). If Sedna had been captured from another planetary system that rotated in the same direction as the Solar System, then all of its population would have orbits on relatively low inclinations and have semi- major axes ranging from 100–500 AU. If it rotated in the opposite direction, then two populations would form, one with low and one with high inclinations. The perturbations from passing stars would produce a wide variety of perihelia and inclinations, each dependent on the number and angle of such encounters.
Sedna is approximately tied with and as the largest planetoid not known to have a moon. For most of its orbit, it is even farther from the Sun than at present, with its aphelion estimated at 937 AU (31 times Neptune's distance, or about 1.5% of a light-year), making it one of the most distant- known objects in the Solar System other than long-period comets.The extreme trans-Neptunian object has a period of ~50,000 years, and small Solar System bodies such as , , , , , and several comets (such as the Great Comet of 1577) also have larger heliocentric orbits. Of the latter, only , , and have a perihelion point farther than Jupiter's orbit, so it is debatable whether or not most of these objects are misclassified comets.
Each of the proposed mechanisms for Sedna's extreme orbit would leave a distinct mark on the structure and dynamics of any wider population. If a trans-Neptunian planet was responsible, all such objects would share roughly the same perihelion (about 80 AU). If Sedna were captured from another planetary system that rotated in the same direction as the Solar System, then all of its population would have orbits on relatively low inclinations and have semi-major axes ranging from 100 to 500 AU. If it rotated in the opposite direction, then two populations would form, one with low and one with high inclinations. The perturbations from passing stars would produce a wide variety of perihelia and inclinations, each dependent on the number and angle of such encounters.
10 'Ice dwarf' however also saw some use as an umbrella term for all trans-Neptunian minor planets, or for the ice asteroids of the outer Solar System; one attempted definition was that an ice dwarf "is larger than the nucleus of a normal comet and icier than a typical asteroid." Before the Dawn mission, Ceres was sometimes called a 'terrestrial dwarf' to distinguish it from the 'ice dwarfs' Pluto and Eris. However, since Dawn it has been recognized that Ceres is an icy body more similar to the icy moons of the outer planets and to TNOs such as Pluto than it is to the terrestrial planets, blurring the distinction, and Ceres has since been called an ice dwarf as well.
A Voyager ring image shown at increased brightness to bring out fainter features Neptune possesses five distinct rings named, in order of increasing distance from the planet, Galle, Le Verrier, Lassell, Arago and Adams. In addition to these well-defined rings, Neptune may also possess an extremely faint sheet of material stretching inward from the Le Verrier to the Galle ring, and possibly farther in toward the planet. Three of the Neptunian rings are narrow, with widths of about 100 km or less; in contrast, the Galle and Lassell rings are broad—their widths are between 2,000 and 5,000 km. The Adams ring consists of five bright arcs embedded in a fainter continuous ring. Proceeding counterclockwise, the arcs are: Fraternité, Égalité 1 and 2, Liberté, and Courage.
In order of their distance from the planet, the irregular moons are Triton, Nereid, Halimede, Sao, Laomedeia, Psamathe, and Neso, a group that includes both prograde and retrograde objects. The five outermost moons are similar to the irregular moons of other giant planets, and are thought to have been gravitationally captured by Neptune, unlike the regular satellites, which probably formed in situ. Triton and Nereid are unusual irregular satellites and are thus treated separately from the other five irregular Neptunian moons, which are more like the outer irregular satellites of the other outer planets. Firstly, they are the largest two known irregular moons in the Solar System, with Triton being almost an order of magnitude larger than all other known irregular moons.
These inhabit the cold outer reaches of the Solar System where ices remain solid and comet-like bodies are not expected to exhibit much cometary activity; if centaurs or trans-Neptunian objects were to venture close to the Sun, their volatile ices would sublimate, and traditional approaches would classify them as comets and not asteroids. The innermost of these are the Kuiper-belt objects, called "objects" partly to avoid the need to classify them as asteroids or comets. They are thought to be predominantly comet-like in composition, though some may be more akin to asteroids. Furthermore, most do not have the highly eccentric orbits associated with comets, and the ones so far discovered are larger than traditional comet nuclei.
With an orbital period of 660 years, it seems to be resonant trans-Neptunian objects in a 1:4 resonance with Neptune, as are and , but with a lower eccentricity and therefore higher perihelion. Considered a scattered and detached object, is particularly unusual as it has an unusually circular orbit for a scattered- disc object (SDO). Although it is thought that traditional scattered-disc objects have been ejected into their current orbits by gravitational interactions with Neptune, the low eccentricity of its orbit and the distance of its perihelion (SDOs generally have highly eccentric orbits and perihelia less than 38 AU) seems hard to reconcile with such celestial mechanics. This has led to some uncertainty as to the current theoretical understanding of the outer Solar System.
John Charles Duncan was the son of Daniel Davidson and Naomi, née Jessup, Duncan. He graduated from Indiana University and received his Bachelor of Arts there in 1905. In 1905/1906, he received the first Lawrence Fellowship donated by Percival Lowell to students of Indiana University at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and participated in the photographic search for Trans- Neptunian planets. In the summer of 1912 he returned to the Lowell Observatory to help with the search. After receiving his Master of Arts in 1906, he began his doctoral studies at the University of California under the director of the Lick Observatory William Wallace Campbell, and in 1909 defended his dissertation on the Cepheids Y Sagittarii and RT Aurigae.
Extreme trans-Neptunian objects (eTNOs) have been found including one with a semi- major axis of 730 AU, , and seven other objects with semi-major axes greater than 150 AU and perihelia greater than 30 AU. After accounting for OSSOS's known biases the orbital elements of these objects are consist with a uniformly distributed population. Four scattered disk objects with high perihelia have been detected with semi-major axes smaller than nearby resonances, consistent with their escape during a slow grainy migration of Neptune. Closer to the Sun, 20 centaurs were found, none of which were active. The number of centaurs detected and their inclinantion distribution were consistent with a model of the early Solar System that included a slow, long range migration of Neptune.
Voyager 2 is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets. A part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, Voyager 1, on a trajectory that took longer to reach Jupiter and Saturn but enabled further encounters with Uranus and Neptune. It is the only spacecraft to have visited either of these two ice giant planets. Voyager 2 is the fourth of five spacecraft to achieve the Solar escape velocity, which will allow it to leave the Solar System. Its primary mission ended with the exploration of the Neptunian system on October 2, 1989, after having visited the Uranian system in 1986, the Saturnian system in 1981, and the Jovian system in 1979.
Following a mid-course correction in 1987, Voyager 2s closest approach to Neptune occurred on August 25, 1989. Through repeated computerized test simulations of trajectories through the Neptunian system conducted in advance, flight controllers determined the best way to route Voyager 2 through the Neptune-Triton system. Since the plane of the orbit of Triton is tilted significantly with respect to the plane of the ecliptic, through mid-course corrections, Voyager 2 was directed into a path about 4950 kilometers (3000 mi) above the north pole of Neptune. Five hours after Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Neptune, it performed a close fly-by of Triton, the larger of Neptune's two originally known moons, passing within about 40,000 kilometers (25,000 mi).
They also found indications of ammonia hydrate. Their report theorized that the ice likely formed underground, becoming exposed after a collision with another Kuiper Belt object sometime in the last few million years. In 2012, she won (along with David C. Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles) the Shaw Prize "for their discovery and characterization of trans-Neptunian bodies, an archeological treasure dating back to the formation of the solar system and the long-sought source of short period comets" and the Kavli Prize (shared with Jewitt and Michael E. Brown) "for discovering and characterizing the Kuiper Belt and its largest members, work that led to a major advance in the understanding of the history of our planetary system".
Jean le Flambeur (flambeur, French, "big-time gambler") is the protagonist of The Quantum Thief and The Fractal Prince. Events narrated from his point of view as Jean le Flambeur are in the first person, while all other points of view in the novels are narrated in the third person, including those in which Jean assumes another name, identity or disguise. In his identity as Jean le Flambeur, he prefers to wear a white shirt and velvet jacket, and sometimes sports blue shades. At the start of The Quantum Thief, he is imprisoned in the Dilemma Prison, a Sobornost prison located in the Neptunian Trojan belt, but is rescued by Mieli at the behest of Josephine Pellegrini, and tasked to undertake another heist.
' (also written 2005 TN74') is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO)Most SDOs have a perihelion distance greater than 35AU and an eccentricity of more than 0.3. in a 3:5 resonance with Neptune.Orbit Fit and Astrometric record for 05TN74 It was discovered by Scott S. Sheppard and Chadwick A. Trujillo in 2005. It was initially suspected of being a Neptune trojan since the first observations gave it a semi-major axis of 30 AU and an orbital eccentricity of 0.16, but further observations showed it to have a semi-major axis of 42.7 AU, a perihelion of 32.1 AU, and an aphelion of 53.4 AU. With an absolute magnitude of 7.2, it has an expected diameter in the range of 85 to 240 km.
Fictional planets in the Solar System beyond the orbit of Neptune have been employed many times as settings or references in science fiction. Following the general reception of Pluto as the ninth planet of the Solar System in 1930, a hypothetical additional planet was sometimes called a "tenth planet". Since 1992, a very large number of objects have been found beyond Neptune; all the objects in the following list, however, are purely fictional. Common names for trans- Neptunian planets in fiction include Planet X, after a planet once believed to lie beyond Neptune, Persephone (or Proserpina), after the wife of Pluto, and Minerva, after the Roman goddess of wisdom and education (which would fit with a planet discovered through mathematical predictions rather than direct observation).
An inclination instability is a dynamical instability that can occur in a disk of objects with eccentric orbits, causing it to form into a conical shape. The gravity of the objects causes an exponential growth of their inclinations while reducing their eccentricities. The inclination instability also results in a clustering of the arguments of perihelion of the objects orbits, similar to what has been observed among the extreme trans-Neptunian objects with semi- major axes greater than 150 AU, it does not produce an alignment of the longitudes of perihelion, however. For an inclination instability to be responsible for the observed clustering, a disk with a mass of 1-10 Earth masses must have existed for over a billion years.
The Solar System contains no known super-Earths, because Earth is the largest terrestrial planet in the Solar System, and all larger planets have both at least 14 times the mass of Earth and thick gaseous atmospheres without well- defined rocky or watery surfaces; that is, they are either gas giants or ice giants, not terrestrial planets. In January 2016, the existence of a hypothetical super-Earth ninth planet in the Solar System, referred to as Planet Nine, was proposed as an explanation for the orbital behavior of six trans-Neptunian objects, but it is speculated to also be an ice giant like Uranus or Neptune. However, with its refined model in 2019 constraining it to around 5 Earth masses, it is most likely to be a super-Earth.The Search for Planet Nine findplanetnine.
Traditionally, devices like a blink comparator were used in astronomy to detect objects in the Solar System, because these objects would move between two exposures—this involved time-consuming steps like exposing and developing photographic plates or films, and people then using a blink comparator to manually detect prospective objects. During the 1980s, the use of CCD-based cameras in telescopes made it possible to directly produce electronic images that could then be readily digitized and transferred to digital images. Because the CCD captured more light than film (about 90% versus 10% of incoming light) and the blinking could now be done at an adjustable computer screen, the surveys allowed for higher throughput. A flood of new discoveries was the result: over a thousand trans-Neptunian objects were detected between 1992 and 2006.
Patrick Moore & Clyde Tombaugh (1980) Out of the darkness: the planet Pluto, p. 136. The name was officially adopted on May 1, 1930. Following the discovery, it was recognized that Pluto wasn't massive enough to be the expected ninth planet, and some astronomers began to consider it the first of a new class of object – and indeed Tombaugh searched for additional Trans-Neptunian objects for years, though due to the lack of any further discoveries he concluded that Pluto was indeed a planet. The idea that Pluto was not a true planet remained a minority position until the discovery of other Kuiper belt objects in the late 1990s, which showed that it did not orbit alone but was at best the largest of a number of icy bodies in its region of space.
Quaoar's minimum orbit intersection distance from Neptune is only 12.3 AU—it does not approach Neptune within this distance over the course of its orbit, as it is not in a mean-motion orbital resonance with Neptune. Simulations by the Deep Ecliptic Survey show that the perihelion and aphelion distances of Quaoar's orbit do not change significantly over the next 10 million years; Quaoar's orbit appears to be stable over the long term. Quaoar is generally classified as a trans-Neptunian object or distant minor planet by the Minor Planet Center since it orbits in the outer Solar System beyond Neptune. Since Quaoar is not in a mean-motion resonance with Neptune, it is also classified as a classical Kuiper belt object (cubewano) by the Minor Planet Center and Deep Ecliptic Survey.
Disregarding the often inconsistent technical details, they are whether an astronomical body moves like a planet (that is, whether its orbit and relationship to other bodies are similar to those of the classical planets) or whether it looks like a planet (that is, whether it is round or has planetary geology). These may be characterized as the orbital definition and the geophysical definition. The issue of a clear definition for planet came to a head in January 2005 with the discovery of the trans-Neptunian object Eris, a body more massive than the smallest then-accepted planet, Pluto. In its August 2006 response, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), recognised by astronomers as the world body responsible for resolving issues of nomenclature, released its decision on the matter during a meeting in Prague.
However, it did subsequently establish guidelines under which an IAU committee would oversee the naming of possible dwarf planets: unnamed trans-Neptunian objects with an absolute magnitude brighter than +1 (and hence a minimum diameter of 838 km corresponding to a geometric albedo of 1) were to be named by the dwarf-planet naming committee. At the time (and still as of 2019), the only bodies to meet the naming criterion were and . These five bodies – the three under consideration in 2006 (Pluto, Ceres and Eris) plus the two named in 2008 (Haumea and Makemake) – are commonly presented as the dwarf planets of the Solar System by naming authorities. However, only one of them – Pluto – has been observed in enough detail to verify that its current shape fits what would be expected from hydrostatic equilibrium.
Robert Jameson Prof Robert Jameson by Sir John Steell Prof Robert Jameson's grave, Warriston Cemetery Professor Robert Jameson FRS FRSE (11 July 1774 – 19 April 1854) was a Scottish naturalist and mineralogist. As Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh for fifty years, Jameson is notable for his advanced scholarship, his superb museum collection and for his tuition of Charles Darwin. Jameson was not at his best in the lecture theatre however, and, for the first half of his career, he grappled with his predecessor John Walker's perverse "Neptunian" geological theories. Darwin attended Robert Jameson's natural history course at the University of Edinburgh in his teenage years, learning about stratigraphic geology and assisting with the collections of the Museum of Edinburgh University, then one of the largest in Europe.
However, in 2019, astronomer William Grundy and colleagues proposed that trans-Neptunian objects similar in size to Ixion, around in diameter, have not collapsed into solid bodies and are thus transitional between smaller, porous (and thus low-density) bodies and larger, denser, brighter and geologically differentiated planetary bodies such as dwarf planets. Ixion is situated within this size range, suggesting that it is at most only partially differentiated, with a porous internal structure. While Ixion's interior may have collapsed gravitationally, its surface remained uncompressed, implying that Ixion might not be in hydrostatic equilibrium and thus not a dwarf planet. However, this notion for Ixion cannot currently be tested: the object is not currently known to have any natural satellites, and thus Ixion's mass and density cannot currently be measured.
In 1894, with the help of William Pickering, Percival Lowell (a wealthy Bostonian) founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 1906, convinced he could resolve the conundrum of Uranus's orbit, he began an extensive project to search for a trans-Neptunian planet, which he named Planet X, a name previously used by Gabriel Dallet. The X in the name represents an unknown and is pronounced as the letter, as opposed to the Roman numeral for 10 (at the time, Planet X would have been the ninth planet). Lowell's hope in tracking down Planet X was to establish his scientific credibility, which had eluded him due to his widely derided belief that channel-like features visible on the surface of Mars were canals constructed by an intelligent civilization.
With an orbital period of 664 years, they seem to be resonant trans-Neptunian objects in a 1:4 resonance with Neptune, as are and , but with lower eccentricities and therefore higher perihelia as the latter. Considered a scattered and detached object, is particularly unusual as it has an unusually circular orbit for a scattered-disc object (SDO). Although it is thought that traditional scattered-disc objects have been ejected into their current orbits by gravitational interactions with Neptune, the low eccentricity of its orbit and the distance of its perihelion (SDOs generally have highly eccentric orbits and perihelia less than 38 AU) seems hard to reconcile with such celestial mechanics. This has led to some uncertainty as to the current theoretical understanding of the outer Solar System.
1995 GJ might be a trans-Neptunian object and/or high-inclination cubewano from the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System, and based on the calculated distance and brightness is assumed to be approximately in diameter. It is a lost minor planet that has only been observed six times on the nights of 3–4 April 1995, by David Jewitt and Jun Chen at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii, using the UH88 telescope, and has not been observed ever since. The object is estimated to have been discovered right at perihelion (closest approach to the Sun). On the night of discovery, the object is estimated to have been moving away from Earth at with the uncertainty in the velocity being an unrealistic (80% the speed of light).
Based on radiometric measurements of Huya's diameter, Michael Brown considers Huya to probably be a dwarf planet, placing it between "likely" and "possibly". In 2019, William Grundy and colleagues proposed that trans-Neptunian objects in the size range of approximately are transitional between smaller, porous (and thus low- density) bodies and larger, denser, brighter and geologically differentiated planetary bodies such as dwarf planets. Huya is situated at the lower end of the size range, implying that Huya's interior structure is likely highly porous and undifferentiated since its formation and thus is unlikely to be in hydrostatic equilibrium. Despite Grundy's expected notion of Huya having a low density, Audrey Thirouin and colleagues in a 2014 study suggested that the minimum density of Huya is , a rough estimate derived from variations in brightness.
Michael E. Brown Precovery images of Haumea were recorded as early as 1955 at the Palomar Observatory On December 28, 2004, Mike Brown and his team discovered Haumea on images they had taken with the 1.3 m SMARTS Telescope at the Palomar Observatory in the United States on May 6, 2004, while looking for what he hoped would be the tenth planet. The Caltech discovery team used the nickname "Santa" among themselves, because they had discovered Haumea on December 28, 2004, just after Christmas. However, it was clearly too small to be a planet, because it was significantly smaller than Pluto, and Brown did not announce the discovery. Instead he kept it under wraps, along with several other large trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), pending additional observation to better determine their natures.
Eris, the largest known scattered-disc object (center), and its moon Dysnomia (left of object) The scattered disc (or scattered disk) is a distant circumstellar disc in the Solar System that is sparsely populated by icy small solar system bodies, which are a subset of the broader family of trans- Neptunian objects. The scattered-disc objects (SDOs) have orbital eccentricities ranging as high as 0.8, inclinations as high as 40°, and perihelia greater than . These extreme orbits are thought to be the result of gravitational "scattering" by the gas giants, and the objects continue to be subject to perturbation by the planet Neptune. Although the closest scattered- disc objects approach the Sun at about 30–35 AU, their orbits can extend well beyond 100 AU. This makes scattered objects among the coldest and most distant objects in the Solar System.
Lastly, Haumea is the goddess of fertility and childbirth, with many children who sprang from different parts of her body; this corresponds to the swarm of icy bodies thought to have broken off the main body during an ancient collision. The two known moons, also believed to have formed in this manner, are thus named after two of Haumea's daughters, Hiʻiaka and Nāmaka. The proposal by the Ortiz team, Ataecina, did not meet IAU naming requirements, because the names of chthonic deities were reserved for stably resonant trans-Neptunian objects such as plutinos that resonate 3:2 with Neptune, whereas Haumea was in an intermittent 7:12 resonance and so by some definitions was not a resonant body. The naming criteria would be clarified in late 2019, when the IAU decided that chthonic figures were to be used specifically for plutinos.
In celestial mechanics, the Kozai mechanism or Lidov–Kozai mechanism or Kozai–Lidov mechanism, also known as the Kozai, Lidov–Kozai or Kozai–Lidov effect, oscillations, cycles or resonance, is a dynamical phenomenon affecting the orbit of a binary system perturbed by a distant third body under certain conditions, causing the orbit's argument of pericenter to oscillate about a constant value, which in turn leads to a periodic exchange between its eccentricity and inclination. The process occurs on timescales much longer than the orbital periods. It can drive an initially near-circular orbit to arbitrarily high eccentricity, and flip an initially moderately inclined orbit between a prograde and a retrograde motion. The effect has been found to be an important factor shaping the orbits of irregular satellites of the planets, trans-Neptunian objects, extrasolar planets, and multiple star systems.
With an orbital period of 498 years, it seems to be a resonant trans-Neptunian objects in a 1:3 resonance with Neptune, as several other objects, but with a lower eccentricity (0.19 instead of more than 0.60) and higher perihelia (at 50.8 AU rather than 31–41 AU). Considered a scattered and detached object, is particularly unusual as it has an unusually circular orbit for a scattered- disc object (SDO). Although it is thought that traditional scattered-disc objects have been ejected into their current orbits by gravitational interactions with Neptune, the low eccentricity of its orbit and the distance of its perihelion (SDOs generally have highly eccentric orbits and perihelia less than 38 AU) seems hard to reconcile with such celestial mechanics. This has led to some uncertainty as to the current theoretical understanding of the outer Solar System.
With an orbital period of 412 years, it seems to be a resonant trans-Neptunian objects in a 2:5 resonance with Neptune, as several other objects, but with a lower eccentricity (0.11 instead of more than 0.60) and higher perihelia (at 49.3 AU rather than 31–41 AU). Considered both a scattered and detached object, is particularly unusual as it has an unusually circular orbit for a scattered- disc object (SDO). Although it is thought that traditional scattered-disc objects have been ejected into their current orbits by gravitational interactions with Neptune, the low eccentricity of its orbit and the distance of its perihelion (SDOs generally have highly eccentric orbits and perihelia less than 38 AU) seems hard to reconcile with such celestial mechanics. This has led to some uncertainty as to the current theoretical understanding of the outer Solar System.
This resulting shape appeared to be inconsistent with a homogenous body in hydrostatic equilibrium, though Haumea appears to be one of the largest trans-Neptunian objects discovered nonetheless, smaller than , , similar to , and possibly , and larger than , , and . A 2019 study attempted to resolve the conflicting measurements of Haumea's shape and density using numerical modeling of Haumea as a differentiated body. It found that dimensions of ≈ 2,100 × 1,680 × 1,074 km (modeling the long axis at intervals of 25 km) were a best-fit match to the observed shape of Haumea during the 2017 occultation, while also being consistent with both surface and core scalene ellipsoid shapes in hydrostatic equilibrium. The revised solution for Haumea's shape implies that it has a core of approximately 1,626 × 1,446 × 940 km, with a relatively high density of ≈ , indicative of a composition largely of hydrated silicates such as kaolinite.
' is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO), located beyond the orbit of Neptune (30.1 AU). The Johnston's archive classifies it as an unspecific "other TNO", meaning that the minor planet is neither a resonant nor a classical TNO. Astronomer Michael Brown considers ' to be a "likely" dwarf-planet candidate, a moderate-probability third place out of his five- level ranking system, as its estimated diameter is a little under 600 kilometers. Taking the mean of the two magnitudes, and using the standard 0.25 ~ 0.05 range for minor planets of unknown albedo, a wider 335 to 748 km spread of possibilities can be calculated for the actual diameter. ' orbits the Sun at a distance of 37.6–58.7 AU once every 334 years and 1 month (122,013 days; semi-major axis of 48.14 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.22 and an inclination of 14° with respect to the ecliptic.
On 11 August 2004, the asteroid was already observed as by astronomers at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, but became a lost minor planet until 2012 due to a lack of follow-up observations. During this time, and with only two observations taken on the same day, it was thought to be a trans-Neptunian object with a semi-major axis of 46 AU. Michael Brown listed it as a likely a dwarf planet on his website with an estimated diameter of 555 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 4.6 and an assumed albedo of 0.09. In 2009, the lost asteroid was observed again as , but was not identified at the time as being related to . In 2012, it was finally rediscovered under its principal designation, reclassified as a small main-belt asteroid, and numbered two years later (see below).
In planetary science, the term unusual minor planet, or unusual object, is used for a minor planet that possesses an unusual physical or orbital characteristic. For the Minor Planet Center (MPC), which operates under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union, any non-classical main-belt asteroid, which account for the vast majority of all minor planets, is an unusual minor planet. These include the near-Earth objects and Trojans as well as the distant minor planets such as centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects. In a narrower sense, the term is used for a group of bodies – including main-belt asteroids, Mars-crossers, centaurs and otherwise non-classifiable minor planets – that show a high orbital eccentricity, typically above 0.5 and/or a perihelion of less than 6 AU. Similarly, an unusual asteroid (UA) is an inner Solar System object with a high eccentricity and/or inclination but with a perihelion larger than 1.3 AU, which does exclude the near-Earth objects.
Many trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) have been discovered; in many cases their positions in this list are approximate, as there is frequently a large uncertainty in their estimated diameters. Solar System objects more massive than 1021 kilograms (one yottagram [Yg]) are known or expected to be approximately spherical. Astronomical bodies relax into rounded shapes (ellipsoids), achieving hydrostatic equilibrium, when their own gravity is sufficient to overcome the structural strength of their material. It was believed that the cutoff for round objects is somewhere between 100 km and 200 km in radius if they have a large amount of ice in their makeup; however, later studies revealed that icy satellites as large as Iapetus (1,470 kilometers in diameter) are not in hydrostatic equilibrium at this time, and a 2019 assessment suggests that many TNOs in the size range of 400-1000 kilometers may not even be fully solid bodies, much less gravitationally rounded.
For this to have occurred on in its current orbit and at temperatures of ~35K, significant quantities of thermal energy would have been required. While this energy could have been delivered by a very large chance collision, the strong overall similarity between the modern C-type asteroids in the outer asteroid belt and suggests that these objects formed in the same region of the early Sun's protoplanetary disk, much closer to the Sun and at higher temperatures. The Grand tack hypothesis predicts that the primitive C-type asteroids were dispersed from their formation location by the migrations of Jupiter and Saturn and many were injected into the outer asteroid belt where we find them today. By the same mechanism (and others that result from planetary formation), simulations show that C-types can also be thrown outward to the trans-Neptunian region, where later they may become captured into the mean- motion resonances of Neptune.
Best-fit models for these absorption features suggest that Huya's surface consists of a mixture of cometary ice tholins (ice tholin II), nitrogen-rich Titan tholins, as well as water ice. Spectrographic observations of Huya's spectrum with the Very Large Telescope in 2001 and 2002 have tentatively identified weak absorption features at near-infrared wavelengths around 0.6–0.82 μm, possibly indicating the presence of phyllosilicate materials on its surface. The 0.6 μm absorption feature in Huya's spectrum resembles those in the spectra of stony S-type asteroids, which may suggest the presence of spinel group minerals, albeit in trace amounts as such minerals are unlikely to be abundant in trans-Neptunian objects. Other absorption features near 0.7 μm in Huya's spectrum appear akin to those in the spectra of dark asteroids, indicating the presence of hydrous silicate minerals such as phyllosilicates, which may have been aqueously altered through heating induced by impact events or the radioactive decay of radionuclides in Huya's interior.
The number of geophysical planets in the Solar system is unknown. At the time of the IAU definition in 2006, it was thought that the limit at which icy astronomical bodies were likely to be in hydrostatic equilibrium was around 400 km in diameter, suggesting that there were a large number of dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt and Scattered Disk, making dwarf planets the most common type of planet in the Solar System. However, it's since been shown that icy moons up to 1500 km in diameter are not in equilibrium, and that most trans- Neptunian objects up to 900 to 1000 km in diameter are not even solid bodies, suggesting that there may be only a few dwarf planets in the Solar system. Regardless of the number of planets, however, geophysical definitions are designed to classify planetary bodies on the basis of common physical properties rather than on location or orbit.
Raj is an astrophysicist in the Physics Department at Caltech, best known for a publication on Kuiper belt object size distribution. For his discovery of a planetary object beyond the Kuiper belt, , which he named "Planet Bollywood", Raj was included in People magazine's "30 (Visionaries) Under 30 (Years of Age) to Watch", received a larger office, and became a celebrity of sorts, drawing the envy of his friends. After six months of failed research on the composition of trans- Neptunian objects, Raj feared being deported back to India (at which point, he describes spending his time at work as "mostly checking e-mail, updating his Facebook status, and messing up Wikipedia entries"). To stay in the country, he sought out a research position in stellar evolution with Professor Laughlin; the job proposition failed as the research team included an attractive woman, and Raj, who became drunk so he could talk to her, made an inappropriate comment.
In January 2016, Batygin and Brown proposed that a distant massive ninth planet is responsible for the alignment of the perihelia of several trans-Neptunian objects with semi-major axes greater than 250 AU. Although the mechanism for the ejection of the fifth giant planet in the five-planet Nice model is reminiscent of the origin of Planet Nine, with a gravitational instability including an encounter with Jupiter, it is unlikely to be the same planet. The estimated timing of the capture of Planet Nine onto its distant orbit, three to ten million years after the formation of the Solar System, when the Sun was still in its birth cluster, is inconsistent with a giant-planet instability that was responsible for the Late Heavy Bombardment. A nearby star close enough to aid in Planet Nine's capture would also result in the capture of the Oort cloud objects on orbits much closer than has been estimated from the orbits of comets. However, Batygin and Brown remarked that there is possibility of retaining the ejected giant due to interactions with the protoplanetary disk.
Finally, in the late 2010s, two KBOs were closely flown past by an unmanned spacecraft, providing much closer observations of the Plutonian system and another KBO. Studies conducted since the trans-Neptunian region was first charted have shown that the region now called the Kuiper belt is not the point of origin of short-period comets, but that they instead derive from a linked population called the scattered disc. The scattered disc was created when Neptune migrated outward into the proto- Kuiper belt, which at the time was much closer to the Sun, and left in its wake a population of dynamically stable objects that could never be affected by its orbit (the Kuiper belt proper), and a population whose perihelia are close enough that Neptune can still disturb them as it travels around the Sun (the scattered disc). Because the scattered disc is dynamically active and the Kuiper belt relatively dynamically stable, the scattered disc is now seen as the most likely point of origin for periodic comets.
Distribution of cubewanos (blue), Resonant trans-Neptunian objects (red), Sednoids (yellow) and scattered objects (grey) semi-major axes) When an object's orbital period is an exact ratio of Neptune's (a situation called a mean-motion resonance), then it can become locked in a synchronised motion with Neptune and avoid being perturbed away if their relative alignments are appropriate. If, for instance, an object orbits the Sun twice for every three Neptune orbits, and if it reaches perihelion with Neptune a quarter of an orbit away from it, then whenever it returns to perihelion, Neptune will always be in about the same relative position as it began, because it will have completed orbits in the same time. This is known as the 2:3 (or 3:2) resonance, and it corresponds to a characteristic semi- major axis of about 39.4 AU. This 2:3 resonance is populated by about 200 known objects, including Pluto together with its moons. In recognition of this, the members of this family are known as plutinos.
However, the name's spelling was later reconsidered by Brown due to its ambiguous pronunciation resulting from the four-vowel combination uaoa—no other word in the English language has this particular combination of vowels. (Indeed, even if one takes the u to be part of the initial consonant qu, no other word in English has the vowel sequence aoa, though it occurs in the place name Paraoa.) Regardless, the name and discovery of Quaoar were publicly announced in October, though Brown had not sought approval of the name by the IAU's Committee on Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN). Quaoar's name was announced before the official numbering of the object, which Brian Marsden—the head of the Minor Planet Center—remarked in 2004 to be a violation of the protocol during the time that the name of —another large trans-Neptunian object discovered by Brown—was announced. Despite this, the name was approved by the CSBN, and the naming citation, along with Quaoar's official numbering, was published in a Minor Planet Circular on 20 November 2002.
In March 2016, believers in the Nibiru cataclysm began to suggest that the month marked the true date for Nibiru's arrival and the destruction of Earth. That same month, the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society published a paper by Daniel Whitmire (who had proposed the existence of Tyche) in which he reconsidered a modified version of the Nemesis model he had first proposed in 1985 in light of recent speculations concerning the possibility of a trans-Neptunian planet. The hypothesis argues that an object far closer to the Sun than Nemesis could have a similar effect if its orbit precessed at a rate thousands of times slower than its actual speed, which would mean it might only interact with the Kuiper belt every 27 million years, potentially sending comets into the inner Solar System and triggering mass extinctions. However, the paper had been initially published online in November 2015, before Brown and Batygin went public with Planet Nine, and concerns a different object far closer to the Sun (100 AU vs.
Clyde Tombaugh continued Lowell's search and in 1930 discovered Pluto, but it was soon determined to be too small to qualify as Lowell's Planet X. After Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune in 1989, the difference between Uranus' predicted and observed orbit was determined to have been due to the use of a previously inaccurate mass of Neptune. Attempts to detect planets beyond Neptune by indirect means such as orbital perturbation date back to before the discovery of Pluto. Among the first was George Forbes who postulated the existence of two trans-Neptunian planets in 1880. One would have an average distance from the Sun, or semi-major axis, of 100 astronomical units (AU), 100 times that of the Earth. The second would have a semimajor axis of 300 AU. His work is considered similar to more recent Planet Nine theories in that the planets would be responsible for a clustering of the orbits of several objects, in this case the aphelion distances of periodic comets similar to that of the Jupiter-family comets.
The name and precise nature of this category were not specified but left for the IAU to establish at a later date; in the debate leading up to the resolution, the members of the category were variously referred to as plutons and plutonian objects but neither name was carried forward, perhaps due to objections from geologists that this would create confusion with their pluton. On June 11, 2008, the IAU Executive Committee announced a name, plutoid, and a definition: all trans-Neptunian dwarf planets are plutoids. The authority of that initial announcement has not been universally recognized: The category of 'plutoid' captured an earlier distinction between the 'terrestrial dwarf' Ceres and the 'ice dwarfs' of the outer Solar system,Mary Carson (2013) Far-Out Guide to the Icy Dwarf Planets, Enslow Publishers part of a conception of a threefold division of the Solar System into inner terrestrial planets, central gas giants and outer ice dwarfs, of which Pluto was the principal member.Kristi Lew (2010) The Dwarf Planet Pluto, Marshall Cavendish, p.
The orbits of the Halley-type comets suggest that they were originally long-period comets whose orbits were perturbed by the gravity of the giant planets and directed into the inner Solar System. If Halley was once a long-period comet, it is likely to have originated in the Oort cloud, a sphere of cometary bodies that has an inner edge of 20,000–50,000 AU. Conversely the Jupiter-family comets are generally believed to originate in the Kuiper belt, a flat disc of icy debris between 30 AU (Neptune's orbit) and 50 AU from the Sun (in the scattered disc). Another point of origin for the Halley-type comets was proposed in 2008, when a trans- Neptunian object with a retrograde orbit similar to Halley's was discovered, , whose orbit takes it from just outside that of Uranus to twice the distance of Pluto. It may be a member of a new population of small Solar System bodies that serves as the source of Halley-type comets. Halley has probably been in its current orbit for 16,000–200,000 years, although it is not possible to numerically integrate its orbit for more than a few tens of apparitions, and close approaches before 837 AD can only be verified from recorded observations.
In 2006, Valencia's first major publication, "Internal Structure of Massive Terrestrial Planets", proposed the first mass-radius relationship for rocky exoplanets that associated mass, radius, and internal structure of solid planets more massive than Earth. 2007's publication, "Radius and Structure Models of the First Super-Earth Planet", recognized that exoplanets of different compositions would have different mass and radius measurements as quantified by degeneracy pressures, including exoplanets with iron cores, rocky mantles, and icy/liquid shells. Recognizing that human interest in the habitability of extra-solar planets drives much of their investigation, and that plate tectonics plays an important role in life on Earth, another 2007 publication, "Inevitability of Plate Tectonics on Super-Earths", was the first published investigation to propose that larger-massed terrestrial planets should experience plate tectonics due to thinner, weaker lithospheres and higher stresses. In 2013, "Bulk Composition of GJ 1214b and Other Sub-Neptunian Exoplanets", attempts to show an atmospheric exoplanet's composition was attained based on planetary mass and radius, and its evolution and internal characteristics. 2018’s "Habitability from Tidally Induced Tectonics" introduced the mechanism of vertical recycling of carbon through a planet's volcanic activity and sequestered carbon onto, and with, the basaltic oceanic crust settling ("foundering") and re-entering the mantle.

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