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Salacia I Actaea
Actaea, officially (120347) Salacia I Actaea, is a natural satellite of the classical Kuiper belt object, classical Kuiper belt planetoid 120347 Salacia. Its diameter is estimated , which is approximately one-third the diameter of Salacia; thus, Salacia and Actaea are viewed by William Grundy et al. to be a binary asteroid, binary system. Assuming that the following size estimates are correct, Actaea is about the sixth-biggest known moon of a trans-Neptunian object, after Charon (moon), Charon (1212 km), Dysnomia (moon), Dysnomia (700 km), Vanth (moon), Vanth (443 km), Ilmarë (moon), Ilmarë (326 km) and Hiiaka (moon), Hiiaka (320 km), but possibly also Hiisi (moon), Hiisi (250 km). Discovery and name It was discovered on 21 July 2006 by Keith S. Noll, Harold Levison, Denise Stephens and Will Grundy with the Hubble Space Telescope. On 18 February 2011, it was officially named Actaea after the nereid Aktaia. Orbit Actaea orbits its primary every at a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trans-Neptunian Object
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 a semi-major axis of 30.1 astronomical units (au). Typically, TNOs are further divided into the classical and resonant objects of the Kuiper belt, the scattered disc and detached objects with the sednoids being the most distant ones. As of October 2020, the catalog of minor planets contains 678 numbered and more than 2,000 unnumbered TNOs. The first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered was Pluto in 1930. It took until 1992 to discover a second trans-Neptunian object orbiting the Sun directly, 15760 Albion. The most massive TNO known is Eris, followed by Pluto, , , and . More than 80 satellites have been discovered in orbit of trans-Neptunian objects. TNOs vary in color and are either grey-blue (BB) or very red (RR). They are thought to be composed of mixtures of rock, amorphous carbon and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
