2014 OS393

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2014 OS393
2014OS393 New Horizons (annotated).gif
2014 OS393 imaged by the New Horizons spacecraft on 5 January 2019
Discovery [1]
Discovered by New Horizons KBO Search
Discovery site Hubble Space Telescope
Discovery date30 July 2014
Designations
2014 OS393
e31007AI [2]  ·e3 [3]  ·PT2 [3]
TNO [4]  · cubewano [5]
distant [1]  · binary [6]
Orbital characteristics [4]
Epoch 8 August 2014 (JD 2456877.5)
Uncertainty parameter 8
Observation arc 121 days
Aphelion 45.350 AU
Perihelion 42.534 AU
43.942 AU
Eccentricity 0.0320
291.29 yr (106,394 d)
60.464°
0° 0m 12.24s / day
Inclination 3.8151°
138.21°
78.660°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter
30 km (component) [7]
42 km (effective) [6]
36.214 h (1.5089 d) [6]
0.04–0.10 [2]
0.04–0.15 [8]
V–I = 1.18 [9] [10]
25.8 [9]
10.1 [1]
10.111 [4]

    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. [1] Until 2015, when the object 486958 Arrokoth was selected, it was a potential flyby target for the New Horizons probe. [3] Estimated to be approximately 42 kilometres (26 mi) in diameter, [5] the object has a poorly determined orbit as it had been observed for only a few months. [4]

    Contents

    Discovery and designation

    The orbits of New Horizons potential targets 1-3. 2014 OS393 (PT2) is in red. 486958 Arrokoth (PT1) is in blue. 2014 PN70 is in green. New Horizons potential targets 1-3.png
    The orbits of New Horizons potential targets 1–3. 2014 OS393 (PT2) is in red. 486958 Arrokoth (PT1) is in blue. 2014 PN70 is in green.

    2014 OS393 was discovered by the New Horizons Search Team with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope [11] because the object has a magnitude of 26.3, which is too faint to be observed by ground-based telescopes. Preliminary observations by the HST searching for KBO flyby targets for the New Horizons probe started in June 2014, and more intensive observations continued in July and August. [12] [13] 2014 OS393 was first discovered in observations on July 30, 2014, but it was designated e31007AI at the time, nicknamed e3 for short. [3] [8] Its existence as a potential target of the New Horizons probe was revealed by NASA in October 2014 [14] [15] and designated PT2, but the official name 2014 OS393 was not assigned by the Minor Planet Center until March 2015 after better orbit information was available. [3]

    Orbit and classification

    2014 OS393 is a trans-Neptunian object and likely a non-resonant classical Kuiper belt object, also known as "cubewano". [5] It orbits the Sun at a distance of 42.5–45.4  AU once every 291 years and 3 months (106,394 days; semi-major axis of 43.94 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.03 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. [4] As this object has not been observed since October 2014, its orbit remains poorly determined still containing a high uncertainty. [1] [4]

    The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken on 25 June 2014, by the New Horizons KBO Search team using the Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory on Hawaii. [1]

    Binary

    After the New Horizons probe completed its flyby of Arrokoth, the probe began observations of other nearby surrounding Kuiper belt objects, including 2014 OS393. Observations of 2014 OS393's brightness variations at high phase angles allowed the New Horizons probe to make a rough determination of its rotation period as well as its shape. As New Horizons observed 2014 OS393 at phase angles near 90°, it displayed large variations in brightness, indicating that its shape is either extremely elongated or 2014 OS393 could be a binary system of two separated components. 2014 OS393 appeared to be possibly a separated binary in a few resolved New Horizons images, but in 2020 this remained inconclusive. [16]

    Later work by Hal Weaver in 2021 showed that 2014 OS393 is indeed a binary, with two components about 30 km (19 mi) in diameter, about 150 km (93 mi) apart. [17] [7]

    Exploration

    Trajectory of New Horizons and other nearby Kuiper belt objects New Horizons KEM Trajectory.png
    Trajectory of New Horizons and other nearby Kuiper belt objects

    After the New Horizons probe completed its flyby of Pluto, the probe was to be maneuvered to a flyby of at least one Kuiper belt object. Several potential targets were under consideration for the first such flyby. 2014 OS393 has an estimated mean-diameter between 30 and 55 kilometers, depending on the body's assumed albedo. [5] [8] The potential encounter in 2018–2019 would have been at a distance of 43–44  AU from the Sun. [2]

    On 28 August 2015, the New Horizons team announced the selection of 2014 MU69 (later named 486958 Arrokoth) as the next flyby target, eliminating the other possible targets — 2014 OS393, 2014 PN70 , and 2014 MT69 . [3] [18] [19]

    The spacecraft passed 2014 OS393 in January 2019, at a distance of less than 0.1 AU (15 million km, 9.3 million miles). This makes 2014 OS393 the second closest KBO observed by New Horizons, after Arrokoth. [20]

    Numbering and naming

    This minor planet has not been numbered by the Minor Planet Center and remains unnamed. [1]

    See also

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Classical Kuiper belt object</span> Kuiper belt object, not controlled by an orbital resonance with Neptune

    A classical Kuiper belt object, also called a cubewano ( "QB1-o"), is a low-eccentricity Kuiper belt object (KBO) that orbits beyond Neptune and is not controlled by an orbital resonance with Neptune. Cubewanos have orbits with semi-major axes in the 40–50 AU range and, unlike Pluto, do not cross Neptune's orbit. That is, they have low-eccentricity and sometimes low-inclination orbits like the classical planets.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Kuiper belt</span> Area of the Solar System beyond the planets, comprising small bodies

    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.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Trans-Neptunian object</span> Solar system objects beyond Neptune

    A trans-Neptunian object (TNO), also written transneptunian object, is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune, which has an orbital semi-major axis of 30.1 astronomical units (au).

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Pluto</span> Dwarf planet

    Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume, by a small margin, but is slightly less massive than Eris. Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is made primarily of ice and rock and is much smaller than the inner planets. Pluto has only one sixth the mass of Earth's moon, and one third its volume.

    <i>New Horizons</i> NASA probe that visited Pluto and Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Buie</span> American astronomer

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">486958 Arrokoth</span> Kuiper belt object

    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.

    <span class="nowrap">2014 PN<sub>70</sub></span> Trans-Neptunian 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.

    <span class="nowrap">2014 MT<sub>69</sub></span> Cold classical Kuiper belt object

    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.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal A. Weaver</span> American astronomer (born 1956)

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    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "2014 OS393". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
    2. 1 2 3 Lakdawalla, Emily (15 October 2014). "Finally! New Horizons has a second target". Planetary Society blog. Planetary Society. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014.
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Zangari, Amanda (28 March 2015). "Postcards from Pluto". Tumblr.
    4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2014 OS393)" (2014-10-24 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 7 September 2021.
    5. 1 2 3 4 Johnston, Wm. Robert (18 August 2020). "List of Known Trans-Neptunian Objects". Johnston's Archive. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
    6. 1 2 3 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.
    7. 1 2 Dickinson, David (8 October 2021). "New Horizons Discovers Kuiper Belt "Twins"". Sky & Telescope. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
    8. 1 2 3 Buie, Marc (15 October 2014). "New Horizons HST KBO Search Results: Status Report" (PDF). Space Telescope Science Institute. p. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
    9. 1 2 Benecchi, S. D.; Borncamp, D.; Parker, A. H.; Buie, M. W.; Noll, K. S.; Binzel, R. P.; et al. (December 2019). "The color and binarity of (486958) 2014 MU69 and other long-range New Horizons Kuiper Belt targets". Icarus. 334: 22–29. arXiv: 1812.04752 . doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2019.01.025. S2CID   119192900.
    10. ↑ "LCDB Data for (2014+OS393)". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 7 September 2021.
    11. ↑ J. R. Spencer; M. W. Buie; et al. (2015). "The Successful Search for a Post-Pluto KBO Flyby Target for New Horizons Using the Hubble Space Telescope" (PDF). European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) Abstract. Copernicus Office: EPSC2015-417. Bibcode:2015EPSC...10..417S.
    12. ↑ "Hubble to Proceed with Full Search for New Horizons Targets". HubbleSite news release. Space Telescope Science Institute. 1 July 2014.
    13. ↑ Schmidt, Klaus (2 July 2014). "Hubble to Proceed with Full Search for New Horizons Targets". International Space Fellowship.
    14. ↑ "NASA's Hubble Telescope Finds Potential Kuiper Belt Targets for New Horizons Pluto Mission". HubbleSite. 15 October 2014.
    15. ↑ Wall, Mike (15 October 2014). "Hubble Telescope Spots Post-Pluto Targets for New Horizons Probe". Space.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014.
    16. ↑ Porter, S. B.; Verbiscer, A. J.; Weaver, H. A.; Spencer, J. R.; Kavelaars, J. J.; Singer, K. N.; Parker, J. W.; Stern, S. A. (2020). Shapes of TNOs from New Horizons Lightcurves (PDF). 51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Lunar and Planetary Institute. 1645. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
    17. ↑ 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.
    18. ↑ Powell, Corey S. (29 March 2015). "Alan Stern on Pluto's Wonders, New Horizons' Lost Twin, and That Whole "Dwarf Planet" Thing". Discover . Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
    19. ↑ Cofield, Calla (28 August 2015). "Beyond Pluto: 2nd Target Chosen for New Horizons Probe". Space.com .
    20. ↑ S. A. Stern; H. A. Weaver; J. R. Spencer; H. A. Elliott (2016). "The New Horizons Kuiper Belt Extended Mission". Space Science Reviews. 214 (4). arXiv: 1806.08393 . doi:10.1007/s11214-018-0507-4. S2CID   255074224.
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