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(50000) Quaoar

50000 Quaoar
Quaoar PRC2002-17e.jpg
Sum of 16 Hubble exposures registered
on Quaoar in 2002
Discovery
Discovered by Chad Trujillo, Michael Brown
Discovery date 2002 Jun 05 10:48:08 PDT on an image taken 2002 June 04 05:41:40 UT
Designations
Pronunciation /ˈkwɑːwɑːr/
Named after
Quaoar
2002 LM60
Cubewano
Orbital characteristics
Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5)
Uncertainty parameter 3
Observation arc 22578 days (61.82 yr)
Aphelion 44.878 AU (6.7137 Tm)
Perihelion 41.868 AU (6.2634 Tm)
43.373 AU (6.4885 Tm)
Eccentricity 0.034704
285.65 yr (104334 d)
Average orbital speed
4.52 km/s
287.542°
0° 0m 12.422s / day
Inclination 7.9870°
188.772°
155.246°
Known satellites Weywot
(81±11 km in diameter)
Earth MOID 40.8601 AU (6.11258 Tm)
Jupiter MOID 36.8936 AU (5.51920 Tm)
Jupiter Tisserand parameter 5.835
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 1110±5 km (occultation)
1074±38 km
Mass (1.4±0.1)×1021 kg
0.12 Eris masses
Mean density
1.99±0.46 g/cm3
2.18+0.43
−0.36
 g/cm3
Equatorial surface gravity
0.276–0.376 m/s2
Equatorial escape velocity
0.523–0.712 km/s
17.6788 h (0.73662 d)
Sidereal rotation period
17.6788 h
0.109±0.007
Temperature ≈ 43 K
(moderately red)
B−V=0.94, V−R=0.64
19.3
2.82±0.06, 2.4
Weywot
Quaoar-red-ssc2004-05c.jpg
A moderately red Quaoar and its moon Weywot (artist's conception)
Discovery
Discovered by Michael E. Brown
Discovery date February 22, 2007
Designations
MPC designation (50000) Quaoar I Weywot
Pronunciation /ˈwwɒt/
S/2006 (50000) 1
Orbital characteristics
~14 500 km
Eccentricity 0.14 ± 0.04
12.438 ± 0.005 d
Inclination 14±4 or 150±4
(two solutions)
Satellite of Quaoar
Physical characteristics
Equatorial radius
40 ± 5 km
~37 km (12:1)
~24.9

50000 Quaoar ("Kwawar") is a Kuiper belt object roughly half the size of Pluto, with a diameter of 1110±5 km. It is large enough and massive enough that it is probably a dwarf planet. Its orbit in the Kuiper belt is not in resonance with Neptune, which means it is a classical Kuiper belt object. Quaoar has one known moon, Weywot.

Quaoar was discovered in 2002 and its moon in 2007. It was named after the Tongva creator deity and its moon after his son.

Signs of water ice have been found, which suggests that cryovolcanism may be occurring. A small amount of methane is present on Quaoar's surface, which can only be retained by the largest Kuiper belt objects.

Quaoar was discovered on June 4, 2002 by astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown at the California Institute of Technology, from images acquired at the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory. The discovery of this magnitude 18.5 object, at the time located in the constellation Ophiuchus, was announced on October 7, 2002, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. The earliest prediscovery image proved to be a May 25, 1954 plate from Palomar Observatory.


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