(

provisional designation Provisional designation in astronomy is the naming convention applied to astronomical objects immediately following their discovery. The provisional designation is usually superseded by a permanent designation once a reliable orbit has been calc ...

) is a resonant

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 ...

and possible dwarf planet located in the outermost region of the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

. The object measures approximately in diameter with a high

albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refle ...

and stays in an uncommon

orbital resonance In celestial mechanics, orbital resonance occurs when orbiting bodies exert regular, periodic gravitational influence on each other, usually because their orbital periods are related by a ratio of small integers. Most commonly, this relationsh ...

( 4:9) with Neptune. It was discovered on 21 October 2001 by astronomers of the

Deep Ecliptic Survey The Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) is a project to find Kuiper belt objects (KBOs), using the facilities of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The principal investigator is Robert L. Millis. Since 1998 through the end of 2003, the su ...

program at

Kitt Peak National Observatory The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With more than ...

near Tucson, Arizona, United States. , it has not been named.

Classification and orbit

has been characterized as a

dwarf planet candidate The number of dwarf planets in the Solar System is unknown. Estimates have run as high as 200 in the Kuiper belt and over 10,000 in the region beyond. However, consideration of the surprisingly low densities of many large trans-Neptunian objects ...

. Based on assumptions and estimates, Michael Brown gives it a "likely"-status on his website, which is the third highest status after "near certainty" and "highly likely" ''(also see his classification table)''. The object orbits the Sun at a distance of 37.0–66.6 AU once every 372 years and 12 months (136,232 days;

semi-major axis In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the lon ...

of 51.82 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.29 and an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Ea ...

of 1 ° with respect to the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic agains ...

. It came to

perihelion An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any elli ...

on 8 October 1937, and has since been moving away from the Sun. In 2006, it moved beyond a distance of 50 AU and is at 53.7 AU . The body's

observation arc In observational astronomy, the observation arc (or arc length) of a Solar System body is the time period between its earliest and latest observations, used for tracing the body's path. It is usually given in days or years. The term is mostly use ...

begins with a

precovery In astronomy, precovery (short for pre-discovery recovery) is the process of finding the image of an object in images or photographic plates predating its discovery, typically for the purpose of calculating a more accurate orbit. This happens mos ...

, published by the

Digitized Sky Survey The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a digitized version of several photographic astronomical surveys of the night sky, produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute between 1983 and 2006. Versions and source material The term Digitized Sky ...

and taken at the

Siding Spring Observatory Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a col ...

in July 1982.

Numbering and naming

was numbered (42301) by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function T ...

on 26 May 2002 (). , it has not been named. Acoording to the established

naming conventions A naming convention is a convention (generally agreed scheme) for naming things. Conventions differ in their intents, which may include to: * Allow useful information to be deduced from the names based on regularities. For instance, in Manhatta ...

, it will receive a mythological or mythic name (not necessarily from Classical mythology), in particular one associated with creation.

Physical characteristics

Lightcurve In astronomy, a light curve is a graph of light intensity of a celestial object or region as a function of time, typically with the magnitude of light received on the y axis and with time on the x axis. The light is usually in a particular freq ...

analysis shows only small deviations, suggesting that ' is a spheroid with small albedo spots. Observations with '' Spitzers''

Infrared Array Camera The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) was an infrared camera system on the ''Spitzer Space Telescope'' which operated in the mid-infrared spectrum. It was composed of four detectors that operated simultaneously at different wavelengths; all four were ...

were used to study the body's surface composition. The analyzed data indicate the presence of 20% water ice, 60% amorphous

silicate In chemistry, a silicate is any member of a family of polyatomic anions consisting of silicon and oxygen, usually with the general formula , where . The family includes orthosilicate (), metasilicate (), and pyrosilicate (, ). The name is a ...

s, and 20% organic compounds, including complex ones such as tholins.

Diameter and albedo

measures approximately in diameter with a high

of 0.209. Based on previous estimates published on the Lightcurve Data Base and on Michael Brown's website, measures between and , using an assumed intermediate surface albedo of 0.09 to 0.10 with an

absolute magnitude Absolute magnitude () is a measure of the luminosity of a celestial object on an inverse logarithmic astronomical magnitude scale. An object's absolute magnitude is defined to be equal to the apparent magnitude that the object would have if it ...

of 4.49 and 4.4, respectively.

References

External links

List Of Centaurs and Scattered-Disk Objects
''Minor Planet Center''
The Meudon Multicolor Survey (2MS) of Centaurs and Trans-Neptunian objects

TNO Colors

Red Planetoid Sedna covered in tar-colored sludge

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)

Minor Planet Center

Small Bodies Data Ferret * * {{DEFAULTSORT:042301 Trans-Neptunian objects in a 4:9 resonance Discoveries by the Deep Ecliptic Survey Possible dwarf planets 20011021