2012 VP113

Last updated

2012 VP113
2012 VP113 orbit with solar system.png
Orbital diagrams of 2012 VP113 with Pluto and the outer planets as of 2017
Discovery [1] [2]
Discovered by
Discovery site Cerro Tololo Obs.
Discovery date5 November 2012
(announced: 26 March 2014)
Designations
2012 VP113
"Biden" (nickname)
Orbital characteristics [3]
Epoch 2022 Aug 09 (JD  2459800.5)
Uncertainty parameter 4
Observation arc 8.29 yr (3,028 d)
Aphelion 462±1 AU
Perihelion
  • 80.522 AU [5]
  • 80.47±0.03 AU
271.5±0.6 AU
Eccentricity 0.7036±0.0007
  • 4473±14 yr
  • 4240 yr (barycentric) [6]
3.50° ±0.01°
0° 0m 0.792s / day
Inclination 24.0563°±0.006°
90.787°
≈ 28 September 1979 [5]
293.8°
Physical characteristics
574 km? [7]
300–1000 km [8]
23.34 [11]
4.1 [3]

    2012 VP113, 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. [1] [2] The discovery was announced on 26 March 2014. [10] [12] The object probably measures somewhere between 300 and 1000 km in diameter, possibly large enough to be a dwarf planet.

    Contents

    Classification and physical characteristics

    2012 VP113 is the minor planet with the farthest known perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in the Solar System, greater than Sedna's. [13] Though its perihelion is farther, 2012 VP113 has an aphelion only about half of Sedna's. It is the second discovered sednoid, with semi-major axis beyond 150  AU and perihelion greater than 50 AU. The similarity of the orbit of 2012 VP113 to other known extreme trans-Neptunian objects led Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo to suggest that an undiscovered object, Planet Nine, in the outer Solar System is shepherding these distant objects into similar type orbits. [10]

    It has an absolute magnitude of 4.0, [1] which means it may be large enough to be a dwarf planet. [14] It is expected to be about half the size of Sedna and similar in size to Huya. [8] Its surface is moderately red in color, resulting from chemical changes produced by the effect of radiation on frozen water, methane, and carbon dioxide. [15] This optical color is consistent with formation in the gas-giant region and not the classical Kuiper belt, which is dominated by ultra-red colored objects. [10]

    History

    Discovery

    Discovery images taken on 5 November 2012. A merger of three discovery images, the red, green and blue dots on the image represent 2012 VP113's location on each of the images, taken two hours apart from each other. 2012 VP113 discovery image.jpg
    Discovery images taken on 5 November 2012. A merger of three discovery images, the red, green and blue dots on the image represent 2012 VP113's location on each of the images, taken two hours apart from each other.

    2012 VP113 was first observed on 5 November 2012 [2] with NOAO's 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. [16] Carnegie's 6.5-meter Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile was used to determine its orbit and surface properties. [16] Before being announced to the public, it was only tracked by Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (807) and Las Campanas Observatory (304). [1] Two precovery measurements from 22 October 2011 have been reported. [1] A primary issue with observing it and finding precovery observations of it is that at an apparent magnitude of 23, it is too faint for most telescopes to easily observe.

    Nickname

    2012 VP113 was abbreviated "VP" and nicknamed "Biden" by the discovery team, after Joe Biden who was the vice president ("VP") of the United States in 2012. [12]

    Orbit

    2012 VP113 has the largest perihelion distance of any known object in the Solar System. [17] Its last perihelion was within a couple months of September 1979. [5] The paucity of bodies with perihelia at 50–75 AU appears not to be an observational artifact. [10]

    It is possibly a member of a hypothesized Hills cloud. [8] [16] [18] It has a perihelion, argument of perihelion, and current position in the sky similar to those of Sedna. [8] In fact, all known Solar System bodies with semi-major axes over 150 AU and perihelia greater than Neptune's have arguments of perihelion clustered near 340°±55°. [10] This could indicate a similar formation mechanism for these bodies. [10] (148209) 2000 CR105 was the first such object discovered.

    It is currently unknown how 2012 VP113 acquired a perihelion distance beyond the Kuiper belt. The characteristics of its orbit, like those of Sedna's, have been explained as possibly created by a passing star or a trans-Neptunian planet of several Earth masses hundreds of astronomical units from the Sun. [19] The orbital architecture of the trans-Plutonian region may signal the presence of more than one planet. [20] [21] 2012 VP113 could even be captured from another planetary system. [14] However, it is considered more likely that the perihelion of 2012 VP113 was raised by multiple interactions within the crowded confines of the open star cluster in which the Sun formed. [8]

    See also

    Other large aphelion objects

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Sedna (dwarf planet)</span> Dwarf planet

    Sedna is a dwarf planet in the outermost reaches of the Solar System, orbiting the Sun beyond the orbit of Neptune. Discovered in 2003, the planetoid's surface is one of the reddest known among Solar System bodies. Spectroscopy has revealed Sedna's surface to be mostly a mixture of the solid ices of water, methane, and nitrogen, along with widespread deposits of reddish-colored tholins, a chemical makeup similar to those of some other trans-Neptunian objects. Within the range of uncertainties, it is tied with the dwarf planet Ceres in the asteroid belt as the largest dwarf planet not known to have a moon. Its diameter is roughly 1,000 km. Owing to its lack of known moons, the Keplerian laws of planetary motion cannot be employed for determining its mass, and the precise figure as yet remains unknown.

    <span class="nowrap">(148209) 2000 CR<sub>105</sub></span>

    (148209) 2000 CR105 is a trans-Neptunian object and the tenth-most-distant known object in the Solar System as of 2015. Considered a detached object, it orbits the Sun in a highly eccentric orbit every 3,305 years at an average distance of 222 astronomical units (AU).

    474640 Alicanto (provisional designation 2004 VN112) is a detached extreme trans-Neptunian object. It was discovered on 6 November 2004, by American astronomer Andrew C. Becker at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. It never gets closer than 47 AU from the Sun (near the outer edge of the main Kuiper belt) and averages more than 300 AU from the Sun. Its large eccentricity strongly suggests that it was gravitationally scattered onto its current orbit. Because it is, like all detached objects, outside the current gravitational influence of Neptune, how it came to have this orbit cannot yet be explained. It was named after Alicanto, a nocturnal bird in Chilean mythology.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Detached object</span> Dynamical class of minor planets

    Detached objects are a dynamical class of minor planets in the outer reaches of the Solar System and belong to the broader family of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). These objects have orbits whose points of closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) are sufficiently distant from the gravitational influence of Neptune that they are only moderately affected by Neptune and the other known planets: This makes them appear to be "detached" from the rest of the Solar System, except for their attraction to the Sun.

    <span class="nowrap">(523622) 2007 TG<sub>422</sub></span> Trans-Neptunian object

    (523622) 2007 TG422 (provisional designation 2007 TG422) is a trans-Neptunian object on a highly eccentric orbit in the scattered disc region at the edge of Solar System. Approximately 260 kilometers (160 miles) in diameter, it was discovered on 3 October 2007 by astronomers Andrew Becker, Andrew Puckett and Jeremy Kubica during the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, United States. According to American astronomer Michael Brown, the bluish object is "possibly" a dwarf planet. It belongs to a group of objects studied in 2014, which led to the proposition of the hypothetical Planet Nine.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Sednoid</span> Group of Trans-Neptunian objects

    A sednoid is a trans-Neptunian object with a large semi-major axis and a high perihelion, similar to the orbit of the dwarf planet Sedna. The consensus among astronomers is that there are only three objects that are known from this population: Sedna, 2012 VP113, and 541132 Leleākūhonua (2015 TG387). All three have perihelia greater than 60 AU. These objects lie outside an apparently nearly empty gap in the Solar System and have no significant interaction with the planets. They are usually grouped with the detached objects. Some astronomers consider the sednoids to be Inner Oort Cloud (IOC) objects, though the inner Oort cloud, or Hills cloud, was originally predicted to lie beyond 2,000 AU, beyond the aphelia of the three known sednoids.

    <span class="nowrap">2014 FC<sub>69</sub></span>

    2014 FC69 is a trans-Neptunian object of the scattered disc on an eccentric orbit in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was first observed on 25 March 2014, by American astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. It is one of the most distant objects from the Sun, even further away than Sedna.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Extreme trans-Neptunian object</span> Solar system objects beyond the other known trans-Neptunian objects

    An extreme trans-Neptunian object (ETNO) is a trans-Neptunian object orbiting the Sun well beyond Neptune (30 AU) in the outermost region of the Solar System. An ETNO has a large semi-major axis of at least 150–250 AU. The orbits of ETNOs are much less affected by the known giant planets than all other known trans-Neptunian objects. They may, however, be influenced by gravitational interactions with a hypothetical Planet Nine, shepherding these objects into similar types of orbits. The known ETNOs exhibit a highly statistically significant asymmetry between the distributions of object pairs with small ascending and descending nodal distances that might be indicative of a response to external perturbations.

    2013 RF98 is a trans-Neptunian object. It was discovered on September 12, 2013, at Cerro Tololo-DECam.

    <span class="nowrap">2013 SY<sub>99</sub></span> Trans-Neptunian object

    2013 SY99, 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 50 and 1,300 AU (7.5 and 190 billion km), and has a barycentric orbital period of nearly 20,000 years. It has the fourth largest semi-major axis for an orbit with perihelion beyond 38 AU. 2013 SY99 has one of highest perihelia of any known extreme trans-Neptunian object, behind sednoids including Sedna (76 AU), 2012 VP113 (80 AU), and Leleākūhonua (65 AU).

    <span class="nowrap">2014 FE<sub>72</sub></span> Extreme trans-Neptunian object from the inner Oort cloud

    2014 FE72 is a trans-Neptunian object first observed on 26 March 2014, at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in La Serena, Chile. 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 well constrained. 2014 FE72 had the largest barycentric aphelion until 2018. However, the heliocentric aphelion of 2014 FE72 is second among trans-Neptunian objects (after the damocloid 2017 MB7). As of 2023, it is about 66 AU (9.9 billion km) from the Sun.

    <span class="nowrap">2014 UZ<sub>224</sub></span> Trans-Neptunian object @ 89AU

    2014 UZ224 is a trans-Neptunian object and possible dwarf planet orbiting in the scattered disc of the outermost Solar System. As of 2021, it is approximately 89.7 AU (13.42 billion km) from the Sun, and will slowly decrease in distance until it reaches its perihelion of 38 AU in 2142. The discoverers have nicknamed it "DeeDee" for "Distant Dwarf".

    <span class="nowrap">2015 BP<sub>519</sub></span> Extreme trans-Neptunian object

    2015 BP519, 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 (W84) in Chile. 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.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">541132 Leleākūhonua</span> Sednoid in the outermost part of the solar system

    541132 Leleākūhonua (provisional designation 2015 TG387) 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 near Halloween and the letters in its provisional designation 2015 TG387, the object was informally nicknamed "The Goblin" by its discoverers and later named Leleākūhonua, comparing its orbit to the flight of the Pacific golden plover. It was the third sednoid discovered, after Sedna and 2012 VP113, and measures around 220 kilometers (140 miles) in diameter.

    <span class="nowrap">2018 VG<sub>18</sub></span> Trans-Neptunian object @ 123AU

    2018 VG18 is a distant trans-Neptunian object (TNO) that was discovered when it was 123 AU (18 billion km; 11 billion mi) from the Sun, more than three times the average distance between the Sun and Pluto. It was discovered on 10 November 2018 by Scott Sheppard, David Tholen, and Chad Trujillo during their search for TNOs whose orbits might be gravitationally influenced by the hypothetical Planet Nine. They announced the discovery of 2018 VG18 on 17 December 2018 and nicknamed the object "Farout" to emphasize its distance from the Sun.

    <span class="nowrap">2014 SV<sub>349</sub></span>

    2014 SV349 is a large trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It is one of the most distant objects from the Sun at 60.5 AU. The object is a dwarf planet candidate and measures approximately 423 kilometers (260 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 19 September 2014, by American astronomer Scott Sheppard at the Cerro Tololo Observatory, Chile, and was provisionally designated 2014 SV349.

    2014 ST373 (prov. designation:2014 ST373) is a trans-Neptunian object and a detached object from the outermost region of the Solar System. With a perihelion of 50.2 AU, it belongs to the top 10 minor planets with the highest known perihelia of the Solar System. and is neither a scattered disc nor an extreme trans-Neptunian object. It measures approximately 370 kilometers (230 miles) in diameter and was first observed on 25 September 2014, by astronomers using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

    2021 RR205 is an extreme trans-Neptunian object discovered by astronomers Scott Sheppard, David Tholen, and Chad Trujillo with the Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory on 5 September 2021. It resides beyond the outer extent of the Kuiper belt on a distant and highly eccentric orbit detached from Neptune's gravitational influence, with a large perihelion distance of 55.5 astronomical units (AU). Its large orbital semi-major axis (~1,000 AU) suggests it is potentially from the inner Oort cloud. 2021 RR205 and 2013 SY99 both lie in the 50–75 AU perihelion gap that separates the detached objects from the more distant sednoids; dynamical studies indicate that such objects in the inner edge this gap weakly experience "diffusion", or inward orbital migration due to minuscule perturbations by Neptune. While Sheppard considers 2021 RR205 a sednoid, researchers Yukun Huang and Brett Gladman do not.

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 "2012 VP113". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
    2. 1 2 3 "MPEC 2014-F40 : 2012 VP113". IAU Minor Planet Center. 26 March 2014. (K12VB3P)
    3. 1 2 3 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2012 VP113)" (3 December 2021 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 20 June 2022.
    4. 1 2 Johnston, Wm. Robert (7 October 2018). "List of Known Trans-Neptunian Objects". Johnston's Archive. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
    5. 1 2 3 "Horizons Batch for 2012 VP113 on 1979-Sep-28" (Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons . Retrieved 21 June 2022. (JPL#9, Soln.date: 3 December 2021)
    6. ↑ Horizons output. "Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for 2012 VP113" . Retrieved 21 June 2022. (Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0)
    7. ↑ "List of known trans-Neptunian objects".
    8. 1 2 3 4 5 Lakdawalla, Emily (26 March 2014). "A second Sedna! What does it mean?". Planetary Society blogs. The Planetary Society.
    9. ↑ Brown, Michael E. "How many dwarf planets are there in the outer solar system?". California Institute of Technology . Retrieved 14 November 2018.
    10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Trujillo, C. A.; Sheppard, S. S. (2014). "A Sedna-like body with a perihelion of 80 astronomical units" (PDF). Nature. 507 (7493): 471–474. Bibcode:2014Natur.507..471T. doi:10.1038/nature13156. PMID   24670765. S2CID   4393431. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
    11. ↑ "2012 VP113 – Summary". AstDyS-2, Asteroids – Dynamic Site. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
    12. 1 2 Witze, Alexandra (26 March 2014). "Dwarf planet stretches Solar System's edge". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2014.14921. S2CID   124305879.
    13. ↑ Chang, Kenneth (26 March 2014). "A New Planetoid Reported in Far Reaches of Solar System". The New York Times .
    14. 1 2 Sheppard, Scott S. "Beyond the Edge of the Solar System: The Inner Oort Cloud Population". Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution for Science. Archived from the original on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
    15. ↑ Sample, Ian (26 March 2014). "Dwarf planet discovery hints at a hidden Super Earth in solar system". The Guardian.
    16. 1 2 3 "NASA Supported Research Helps Redefine Solar System's Edge". NASA. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
    17. ↑ "JPL Small-Body Database Search Engine: q > 47 (AU)". JPL Solar System Dynamics . Retrieved 12 March 2018.
    18. ↑ Wall, Mike (26 March 2014). "New Dwarf Planet Found at Solar System's Edge, Hints at Possible Faraway 'Planet X'". Space.com web site. TechMediaNetwork . Retrieved 27 March 2014.
    19. ↑ "A new object at the edge of our Solar System discovered". Physorg.com. 26 March 2014.
    20. ↑ de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl (1 September 2014). "Extreme trans-Neptunian objects and the Kozai mechanism: signalling the presence of trans-Plutonian planets". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. 443 (1): L59–L63. arXiv: 1406.0715 . Bibcode:2014MNRAS.443L..59D. doi: 10.1093/mnrasl/slu084 .
    21. ↑ de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl; Aarseth, S. J. (11 January 2015). "Flipping minor bodies: what comet 96P/Machholz 1 can tell us about the orbital evolution of extreme trans-Neptunian objects and the production of near-Earth objects on retrograde orbits". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 446 (2): 1867–1873. arXiv: 1410.6307 . Bibcode:2015MNRAS.446.1867D. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu2230 .
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