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The Kuiper belt is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 times as wide and 20–200 times as massive. Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies or remnants from when the Solar System formed. While many asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, most Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles, such as methane, ammonia, and water. The Kuiper belt is home to most of the objects that astronomers generally accept as dwarf planets: Orcus, Pluto, Haumea, Quaoar, and Makemake. Some of the Solar System's moons, such as Neptune's Triton and Saturn's Phoebe, may have originated in the region.
28978 Ixion (, provisional designation 2001 KX76) 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. The object is named after the Greek mythological figure Ixion, who was a king of the Lapiths.
Makemake is a dwarf planet and the second-largest of what are known as the classical population of Kuiper belt objects, with a diameter approximately that of Saturn's moon Iapetus, or 60% that of Pluto. It has one known satellite. Its extremely low average temperature, about 40 K (−230 °C), means its surface is covered with methane, ethane, and possibly nitrogen ices.
47171 Lempo, or as a binary (47171) Lempo–Hiisi (also known as 1999 TC36), is a trans-Neptunian object and trinary system from the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost regions of the Solar System. It was discovered on 1 October 1999, by American astronomers Eric Rubenstein and Louis-Gregory Strolger during an observing run at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, United States. Rubenstein was searching images taken by Strolger as part of their Nearby Galaxies Supernova Search project. It is classified as a plutino with a 2:3 mean-motion resonance with Neptune and is among the brighter TNOs. It reached perihelion in July 2015. This minor planet was named after Lempo from Finnish mythology.
(55637) 2002 UX25 is a trans-Neptunian object that orbits the Sun in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune. It briefly garnered scientific attention when it was found to have an unexpectedly low density of about 0.82 g/cm3.
Eris is the most massive and second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. It is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the scattered disk and has a high-eccentricity orbit. Eris was discovered in January 2005 by a Palomar Observatory–based team led by Mike Brown and verified later that year. In September 2006, it was named after the Greco–Roman goddess of strife and discord. Eris is the ninth-most massive known object orbiting the Sun and the sixteenth-most massive overall in the Solar System. It is also the largest known object in the solar system that has not been visited by a spacecraft. Eris has been measured at 2,326 ± 12 kilometers (1,445 ± 7 mi) in diameter; its mass is 0.28% that of the Earth and 27% greater than that of Pluto, although Pluto is slightly larger by volume. Both Eris and Pluto have a surface area that is comparable to the area of Russia or South America.
(307261) 2002 MS4 (provisional designation 2002 MS4) is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt, which is a region of icy planetesimals beyond Neptune. It was discovered on 18 June 2002 by Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown during their search for bright, Pluto-sized Kuiper belt objects at Palomar Observatory. To within measurement uncertainties, 2002 MS4, 2002 AW197, and 2013 FY27 have a diameter close to 800 km (500 mi), which makes them the largest unnamed objects in the Solar System. 2002 MS4 is large enough that astronomers consider it a possible dwarf planet.
A contact binary is a small Solar System body, such as a minor planet or comet, that is composed of two bodies that have gravitated toward each other until they touch, resulting in a bilobated, peanut-like overall shape. Contact binaries are distinct from true binary systems such as binary asteroids where both components are separated. The term is also used for stellar contact binaries.
174567 Varda (provisional designation 2003 MW12) is a binary trans-Neptunian planetoid 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.
55576 Amycus is a centaur discovered on 8 April 2002 by the NEAT at Palomar.
486958 Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU69; formerly nicknamed Ultima Thule) is a trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper belt. Arrokoth became the farthest and most primitive object in the Solar System visited by a spacecraft when the NASA space probe New Horizons conducted a flyby on 1 January 2019. Arrokoth is a contact binary 36 km (22 mi) long, composed of two planetesimals 21 and 15 km (13 and 9 mi) across, that are joined along their major axes. With an orbital period of about 298 years and a low orbital inclination and eccentricity, Arrokoth is classified as a cold classical Kuiper belt object.
2014 PN70 (internally designated g12000JZ, g1 and PT3) 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 (25 miles) 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 selected.
2014 OS393, unofficially designated e31007AI, e3 and PT2, is a binary trans-Neptunian object in the classical Kuiper belt, 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 42 kilometres (26 mi) in diameter, the object has a poorly determined orbit as it had been observed for only a few months.
2014 MT69 (internally designated 0720090F in the context of the Hubble Space Telescope, and 7 in the context of the New Horizons mission) is a cold classical Kuiper belt object (KBO) and was formerly a potential flyby target for the New Horizons probe. The object measures approximately 20–90 kilometers (12–56 miles) in diameter.
(524366) 2001 XR254, provisional designation 2001 XR254, 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 171 kilometers (110 miles). 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.
(523794) 2015 RR245, provisional designation 2015 RR245, 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. 2015 RR245 was suspected to have a satellite according to a study announced by Noyelles et al. in a European Planetary Science Congress meeting in 2019.
(556416) 2014 OE394 is a large cubewano in the Kuiper belt that was discovered in July 2014 by the Pan-STARRS-1 telescope, and announced on 17 July 2016. It is one of the brighter trans-Neptunian objects, being the 34th brightest cubewano as of 23 July 2016. Its exact size is unknown, but is most likely between 240 and 730 kilometers across. Mike Brown's website lists it as a "possible" dwarf planet, with an estimated diameter of 337 kilometers.
(516977) 2012 HZ84, provisional designation 2012 HZ84, is a small trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 74 kilometers (46 miles) 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.
2012 HE85 is a small, resonant trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 74 kilometers (46 miles) 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.
(523764) 2014 WC510 is a binary trans-Neptunian object discovered on 8 September 2011 by the Pan-STARRS survey at the Haleakalā Observatory in Hawaii. It was found by Pan-STARRS on 20 November 2014 and was announced later in July 2016 after additional observations and precovery identifications. It is in the Kuiper belt, a region of icy objects orbiting beyond Neptune in the outer Solar System. It is classified as a plutino, a dynamical class of objects in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune. On 1 December 2018, a team of astronomers observed a stellar occultation by the object, which revealed that it is a compact binary system consisting of two separate components in close orbit around each other. The primary and secondary components are estimated to have diameters of around 180 km (110 mi) and 140 km (87 mi), respectively.
References
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- 1 2 Tholen, D. J.; Buie, M. W.; Trilling, D.; Spencer, J.; Borncamp, D. M.; Osip, D. J.; Kavelaars, J.; Fuentes, C. I.; Schechter, P. L.; McLeod, B. A.; Conroy, M.; Parker, A. H.; Sheppard, S. S.; Williams, G. V. (11 December 2012). "MPEC 2012-X60 : 2011 JY31". Minor Planet Electronic Circular. Minor Planet Center. 2012-X60. Bibcode:2012MPEC....X...60T . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- ↑ Benecchi, Susan (October 2011). "Orbital Refinement and Characterization of New Horizons KBO candidates – HST Proposal 12535". Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes. Space Telescopes Science Institute: 12535. Bibcode:2011hst..prop12535B . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- 1 2 3 Porter, Simon B.; Spencer, John R.; Verbiscer, Anne J.; Benecchi, Susan; Weaver, Hal A.; Wen Lin, Hsing; et al. (January 2022). "Orbits and Occultation Opportunities of 15 TNOs Observed by New Horizons". The Planetary Science Journal. 3 (1): 19. Bibcode:2022PSJ.....3...23P. doi: 10.3847/PSJ/ac3491 .
- 1 2 3 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2011 JY31)" (2016-06-30 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ↑ Johnston, Wm. Robert (29 August 2021). "List of Known Trans-Neptunian Objects". Johnston's Archive. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Weaver, H. A.; Porter, S. B.; Spencer, J. R.; et al. (February 2022). "High Resolution Search for KBO Binaries from New Horizons". The Planetary Science Journal. 3 (46): 17. arXiv: 2201.05940 . Bibcode:2022PSJ.....3...46W. doi: 10.3847/PSJ/ac4cb7 . S2CID 247088149.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Weaver, H. A.; Porter, S. B.; Spencer, J. R. (1 February 2022). "High-resolution Search for Kuiper Belt Object Binaries from New Horizons". The Planetary Science Journal. 3 (2): 46. Bibcode:2022PSJ.....3...46W. doi: 10.3847/PSJ/ac4cb7 .
- 1 2 Verbiscer, Anne J.; Porter, Simon; Benecchi, Susan D.; Kavelaars, J. J.; Weaver, Harold A.; Spencer, John R.; et al. (September 2019). "Phase Curves from the Kuiper Belt: Photometric Properties of Distant Kuiper Belt Objects Observed by New Horizons". The Astronomical Journal. 158 (3): 17. arXiv: 1405.7181 . Bibcode:2019AJ....158..123V. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ab3211 . S2CID 202150415. 123.
- 1 2 Benecchi, S. D.; Noll, K. S.; Weaver, H. A.; Spencer, J. R.; Stern, S. A.; Buie, M. W.; Parker, A. H. (January 2015). "New Horizons: Long-range Kuiper Belt targets observed by the Hubble Space Telescope". Icarus. 246: 369–374. arXiv: 1405.7181 . Bibcode:2015Icar..246..369B. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.04.014. hdl:2060/20150011460. S2CID 119239605.
- ↑ Weaver, Harold; Porter, Simon; Spencer, John (October 2021). Discovery of Tight Binaries in the Kuiper Belt by New Horizons LORRI. 53rd Annual DPS Meeting. Vol. 53. American Astronomical Society. Bibcode:2021DPS....5330707W. 307.07.
- ↑ Dickinson, David (8 October 2021). "New Horizons Discovers Kuiper Belt "Twins"". Sky & Telescope. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
