541132 Leleākūhonua

541132 Leleākūhonua () ( provisional designation ) 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 , 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 and , and measures around in diameter.

Discovery

Leleākūhonua was first observed on 13 October 2015 at the Mauna Kea Observatory , by American astronomers David Tholen, Chad Trujillo and Scott Sheppard during their astronomical survey for objects located beyond the Kuiper Cliff. The unofficial discovery was publicly announced on 1 October 2018. The survey uses two principal telescopes: For the Northern hemisphere, the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope with its Hyper Suprime Camera at Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, and for the Southern hemisphere, the 4-meter Blanco Telescope and its Dark Energy Camera at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. For follow-up observations to determine an object's orbit, the astronomers are using the Magellan and the Lowell Discovery telescopes. The survey's discoveries include , and .

Orbit and classification

Leleākūhonua orbits the Sun at a distance varying from 65 to about 2000 AU once roughly every 32,000 years (semi-major axis of around 1000–1200 AU). Its orbit has a very high eccentricity of 0.94 and an inclination of with respect to the ecliptic. It belongs to the extreme trans-Neptunian objects defined by their large semi-major axis and is the third sednoid ever to be discovered, after and ("Biden").

Implications of orbit

Along with the similar orbits of other distant trans-Neptunian objects, the orbit of Leleākūhonua suggests, but does not prove, the existence of a hypothetical Planet Nine in the outer Solar System.

, the object is inbound 78 AU from the Sun; about two-and-a-half times farther out than Pluto's current location. It will come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in 2078. As with Sedna, it would not have been found had it not been on the inner leg of its long orbit. This suggests that there may be many similar objects, most too distant to be detected by contemporary technological methods. Following the discovery of Leleākūhonua, Sheppard et al. concluded that it implies a population of about 2 million inner Oort cloud objects larger than , with a combined total mass of , about the mass of Pluto (a fraction the mass of Earth's moon but several times the mass of the asteroid belt).

Numbering and naming

This minor planet was by the Minor Planet Center on 10 October 2019 (). In June 2020, it was formally named Leleākūhonua 'it flies until land appears'. The name was suggested by students in the Hawaiian-language program A Hua He Inoa. The object reminded students of the migrations of the ''kolea'', or Pacific golden plover, which migrates from Alaska to Hawaii.Meghan Bartels
'The Goblin' dwarf planet and an ancient quasar receive Hawaiian names
Space.com, July 01, 2020 The English description states that the name "compares the orbit to the flight of migratory birds and evokes a yearning to be near Earth" (in Hawaiian, ''me he manu i ke ala pōaiapuni lā, he paa mau nō ia i ka hui me kona pūnana i kumu mai ai'' – like a bird on a path circling the sun, it is forever seeking a leeward wind back toward home.)

Physical characteristics

The size of Leleākūhonua depends on the assumed albedo (reflectivity); if it is a darker object then it would also have to be larger; a higher albedo would demand that it be smaller. The faint object has a visual magnitude of 24.64, comparable to the visual magnitudes of Pluto's smaller moons. It was initially estimated to be in diameter under the assumption of an albedo of 0.15, though observations of a single-chord stellar occultation at Penticton, Canada on 20 October 2018 suggested a smaller diameter of , corresponding to a higher albedo of 0.21.

Visualizations

2015_TG387_hoverview.png, Simulated view of Solar System as seen from Leleākūhonua, showing the orbits of major planets and positions of other extreme Trans-Neptunian objects.
File:2015 TG387-sky-retropath.png, View of Leleākūhonua from Earth, showing retrograde loops every year, with current position near γ Pegasi

See also

* List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun
* List of Solar System objects by greatest aphelion
* V774104

References

External links

List Of Centaurs and Scattered-Disk Objects
''Minor Planet Center''
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Discoveries by David J. Tholen
Discoveries by Chad Trujillo
Named minor planets
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Inner Oort cloud