(225088) 2007 OR10
2007 OR10 and its moon seen by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2010
|
|
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by |
M. E. Schwamb M. E. Brown D. L. Rabinowitz |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 17 July 2007 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | (225088) 2007 OR10 |
| TNO · SDO · 3:10 res. | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 16 February 2017 (JD 2457800.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 4 | |
| Observation arc | 30.09 yr (10,989 days) |
| Aphelion | 101.02 AU |
| Perihelion | 33.102 AU |
| 67.059 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.5064 |
| 549.16 yr (200,579 days) | |
| 104.43° | |
| 0° 0m 6.48s / day | |
| Inclination | 30.904° |
| 336.82° | |
| 207.04° | |
| Known satellites | 1 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions |
1535+75 −225 km 1280+210 −210 km |
| Mass | ~1.3–6 × 1021 kg (est.) |
| 44.81±0.37 h | |
|
0.089+0.031 −0.009 0.185+0.076 −0.052 |
|
| Temperature | 31 K |
| red | |
| 21.4 | |
| 1.8 1.8 2.34 |
|
(225088) 2007 OR10 is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) orbiting the Sun in the scattered disc, approximately 1500 kilometers in diameter. It is the third-largest known body in the Solar System past the orbit of Neptune, and the largest known body in the Solar System without a name. According to current estimates as of May 2016, it is slightly larger than Makemake or Haumea, and is hence almost certainly a dwarf planet. It has one known moon.
(225088) 2007 OR10 was discovered by California Institute of Technology astronomers as part of the PhD thesis of Megan E. Schwamb, who was at the time a graduate student of Michael E. Brown.
Brown nicknamed the object "Snow White" for its presumed white color, because it would have to be very large or very bright to be detected by their survey. It was also the "seventh dwarf" discovered by Brown's team, after Quaoar in 2002, Sedna in 2003, Haumea and Orcus in 2004, and Makemake and Eris in 2005. However, 2007 OR10 turned out to be one of the reddest objects in the Kuiper belt, comparable only to Quaoar, so the nickname was dropped.
2007 OR10 is currently the largest known object in the Solar System without an official name. In 2011 Brown decided he finally had enough information to justify giving it one, because the discovery of water ice and the possibility of methane makes it noteworthy enough to warrant further study. However, as of 2015, Brown had yet to propose a name, though he notes that in 2017 anyone will be able to make a proposal.
(225088) 2007 OR10 came to perihelion around 1857. As of February 2016[update] it is located 87.5 AU from the Sun and moving at 2.7 kilometers per second (6,000 miles per hour) with respect to the Sun. This makes it the third-farthest known large body in the Solar System, after V774104 (103 AU) and Eris (96.3 AU), and farther out than Sedna (85.7 AU). It has been farther from the Sun than Sedna since 2013.2007 OR10 will be farther than both Sedna and Eris by 2045, and it will reach aphelion in 2130.
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