(131697) 2001 XH255

Last updated

(131697) 2001 XH255
Discovery [1]
Discovered by
  • Kleyna, J.
  • Sheppard, S. S.
  • Jewitt, D. C.
Discovery date11 December 2001
Designations
(131697) 2001 XH255
Orbital characteristics [1]
Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD  2457400.5)
Uncertainty parameter 3
Observation arc 4110 days (11.25 yr)
Aphelion 37.907  AU (5.6708  Tm) (Q)
Perihelion 32.339 AU (4.8378 Tm) (q)
35.123 AU (5.2543 Tm) (a)
Eccentricity 0.079253 (e)
208.16  yr (76030.5  d)
318.51° (M)
0° 0m 17.046s / day (n)
Inclination 2.8512° (i)
323.17° (Ω)
217.87° (ω)
Earth  MOID 31.3433 AU (4.68889 Tm)
Jupiter  MOID 26.8986 AU (4.02397 Tm)
Physical characteristics
Dimensions100 km (assumed) [4]
0.09 (assumed)
23.6 [5]
8.2 [1]

    (131697) 2001 XH255, provisionally known as 2001 XH255, is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) that has a 4:5 resonance with Neptune. [2]

    Contents

    It will come to perihelion in 2041. [1]

    Assuming a generic TNO albedo of 0.09, it is about 100 km in diameter. [4]

    Resonance

    According to the Deep Ecliptic Survey and Minor Planet Center, (131697) 2001 XH255 has a 4:5 resonance with Neptune. [2] [3] It comes as close as 32.2 AU from the Sun and has a fairly low orbital eccentricity of 0.07 with an inclination of only 2.86 degrees. [1]

    The Neptune 4:5 resonance keeps it more than 7 AU from Neptune over a 14000-year period. [6]

    It has been observed 21 times over 5 oppositions and has an orbit quality code of 3. [1]

    The libration of 2001 XH255. Jupiter in red, Saturn in yellow, and Uranus in blue. Neptune is the white dot at 5 o'clock. 2001XH255AnimwithJup.gif
    The libration of 2001 XH255. Jupiter in red, Saturn in yellow, and Uranus in blue. Neptune is the white dot at 5 o'clock.

    Potential for Exploration

    A NASA study in 2019 that confirmed the viability of using small radioisotope or nuclear fission power systems combined with xenon electric propulsion for deep space exploration, used 2001 XH255 as a representative Kuiper Belt Object as the mission's destination to orbit. [7]

    Related Research Articles

    <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">(15788) 1993 SB</span> Plutino

    (15788) 1993 SB is a trans-Neptunian object of the plutino class. Apart from Pluto, it was one of the first such objects discovered, and the first to have an orbit calculated well enough to receive a number. The discovery was made in 1993 at the La Palma Observatory with the Isaac Newton Telescope. Very little is known about the object. Even the diameter estimate of ~130 km is based on an assumed albedo of 0.09.

    <span class="nowrap">(84522) 2002 TC<sub>302</sub></span> Large trans-Neptunian object

    (84522) 2002 TC302, prov. designation: 2002 TC302, is a mid-sized trans-Neptunian object located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 9 October 2002, by American astronomers Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo and David Rabinowitz at the Palomar Observatory in California. The resonant trans-Neptunian object stays in a 2:5 resonance with Neptune. It has a reddish color, a rotation period of 56.1 hours and measures at least 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter.

    1993 RP is a trans-Neptunian object discovered by astronomers David Jewitt and Jane Luu at Mauna Kea Observatory on 15 September 1993. It was one of the first few trans-Neptunian objects discovered after Pluto and Charon, but it was not observed long enough to to determine its orbit and ended up becoming lost for over two decades. 1993 RP was serendipitously reobserved in 2015–2016 by Edward Ashton, John Kavelaars, and Brett Gladman at Mauna Kea Observatory, but was announced as a new trans-Neptunian object under the provisional designation 2015 VR202. 2015 VR202 was not recognized to be the same object as 1993 RP until it was identified by Peter VanWylen on 14 August 2023.

    (119070) 2001 KP77, provisional designation:2001 KP77, is a resonant trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt, a circumstellar disc located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 23 May 2001, by American astronomer Marc Buie at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. The object is locked in a 4:7 orbital resonance with Neptune. It has a red surface color and measures approximately 176 kilometers (110 miles) in diameter. As of 2021, it has not been named.

    (20161) 1996 TR66 is a trans-Neptunian object orbiting beyond Pluto in the Kuiper belt of the outermost Solar System, approximately 139 kilometers (86 miles) 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.

    (95625) 2002 GX32, 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.

    (118228) 1996 TQ66, prov. designation:1996 TQ66, is a resonant trans-Neptunian object of the plutino population in the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 8 October 1996, by American astronomers Jun Chen, David Jewitt, Chad Trujillo and Jane Luu, using the UH88 telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii. The very red object measures approximately 185 kilometers (110 miles) in diameter. As of 2021, it has not been named.

    (118378) 1999 HT11, provisional designation:1999 HT11, is a trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System, locked in a 4:7 orbital resonance with Neptune. It was discovered on 17 April 1999, by astronomers at the Kitt Peak Observatory, Arizona, in the United States. The very red object measures approximately 134 kilometers (83 miles) in diameter. As of 2021, it has not been named.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">15810 Arawn</span>

    15810 Arawn, provisional designation 1994 JR1, is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) from the inner regions of the Kuiper belt, approximately 133 kilometres (83 mi) in diameter. It belongs to the plutinos, the largest class of resonant TNOs. It was named after Arawn, the ruler of the underworld in Welsh mythology, and discovered on 12 May 1994, by astronomers Michael Irwin and Anna Żytkow with the 2.5-metre Isaac Newton Telescope at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in the Canary Islands, Spain.

    <span class="nowrap">2006 QH<sub>181</sub></span>

    2006 QH181, also written as 2006 QH181, is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the scattered disc. Its orbit is currently too poorly determined (U=6) to know whether it is in a resonance with Neptune.

    (35671) 1998 SN165, prov. designation: 1998 SN165, 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 400 kilometers (250 miles) in diameter. It has a grey-blue color (BB) and a rotation period of 8.8 hours. As of 2021, it has not been named.

    (131696) 2001 XT254, provisionally known as 2001 XT254, is a Kuiper belt object (KBO) that has a 3:7 resonance with Neptune.

    <span class="nowrap">(612584) 2003 QX<sub>113</sub></span>

    (612584) 2003 QX113 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. It was discovered by astronomers with the Canada–France Ecliptic Plane Survey at Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, when it was near aphelion on 31 August 2003. It was provisionally designated 2003 QX113.

    <span class="nowrap">(82075) 2000 YW<sub>134</sub></span>

    (82075) 2000 YW134, provisional designation: 2000 YW134, is a resonant trans-Neptunian object and binary system, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 26 December 2000, by astronomers with the Spacewatch survey at Kitt Peak Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. The reddish object stays in a rare 3:8 resonance with Neptune. A smaller companion was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in October 2002. As of 2021, neither the primary body nor its satellite have been named.

    (307463) 2002 VU130, prov. designation: 2002 VU130, is a trans-Neptunian object, located in the circumstellar disc of the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System. The resonant trans-Neptunian object belongs to the population of plutinos and measures approximately 253 kilometers (160 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 7 November 2002, by American astronomer Marc Buie at the Kitt Peak Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. The object has not been named yet.

    (471288) 2011 GM27 is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the Kuiper belt, classified as a hot classical Kuiper belt object. It was discovered on 2 April 2011, at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. With an absolute magnitude of 5.32, a geometric albedo of between 0.06 to 0.09 (a typical value) would mean it has a diameter of about 450 kilometers (280 mi).

    (523671) 2013 FZ27, provisional designation 2013 FZ27, is a trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 570 kilometers (350 miles) 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.

    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.

    (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

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 131697 (2001 XH255)" (last observation: 2006-01-29). Retrieved 7 April 2016.
    2. 1 2 3 Marc W. Buie. "Orbit Fit and Astrometric record for 131697" (2006-01-29 using 19 observations). SwRI (Space Science Department). Retrieved 1 February 2009.
    3. 1 2 "MPEC 2009-A63 :Distant Minor Planets (2009 JAN. 29.0 TT)". Minor Planet Center. 13 January 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
    4. 1 2 Wm. Robert Johnston (22 August 2008). "List of Known Trans-Neptunian Objects". Johnston's Archive. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
    5. "AstDys (131697) 2001XH255 Ephemerides". Department of Mathematics, University of Pisa, Italy. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
    6. "MPEC 2006-H30 : 2001 XT254, 2001 XH255". Minor Planet Center. 22 April 2006. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
    7. Oleson, S.; et al. (19 August 2019). "A Kuiper Belt Object Orbiter Enabled By 10 kW Kilopower Electric Propulsion" (PDF). NASA NTRS. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2020.