(84522) 2002 TC302
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by |
M. E. Brown, C. A. Trujillo, D. L. Rabinowitz(?) |
| Discovery date | 9 October 2002 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | (84522) 2002 TC302 |
| 2:5 resonance | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 3 | |
| Observation arc | 5574 days (15.26 yr) |
| Aphelion | 71.552 AU (10.7040 Tm) |
| Perihelion | 38.979 AU (5.8312 Tm) |
| 55.265 AU (8.2675 Tm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.29469 |
| 410.86 yr (150065 d) | |
|
Average orbital speed
|
3.93 km/s |
| 322.056° | |
| 0° 0m 8.636s / day | |
| Inclination | 35.107° |
| 23.902° | |
| 87.142° | |
| Earth MOID | 38.1784 AU (5.71141 Tm) |
| Jupiter MOID | 34.8125 AU (5.20788 Tm) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 584.1+105.6 −88.0 |
| 5.41 h (0.225 d) | |
| 0.115+0.047 −0.033 |
|
| (red) B−V=1.03; V−R=0.67 |
|
| 20.5 (opposition) | |
| 3.8 | |
(84522) 2002 TC302 is a red 2:5 resonanttrans-Neptunian object (TNO) discovered on October 9, 2002 by Mike Brown's team at the Palomar Observatory.
(84522) 2002 TC302 has an absolute magnitude (H) of 3.78. It has an estimated diameter of 584.1+105.6
−88.0 km. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope, it was previously estimated to have a diameter of 1145+337
−325 km, which would have made it one of the largest possible dwarf planets. This overestimation was due to insufficient motion to allow for a good sky subtraction and because it was very close to a brighter background object. Brown noted that the Spitzer measurement involved a very large potential error and that the object would likely be smaller, making its chances of it being a dwarf planet "likely" rather than "near certainty", in his opinion.
It was predicted that on 30 November 2013, (84522) 2002 TC302 might occult a star for slightly less than a minute. However, the possibility to observe this occultation was judged as small. The precise duration that a Solar System object occults a star provides a precise way to determine its diameter, if observed from multiple locations.
The red spectra suggests that (84522) 2002 TC302 has very little fresh ice on its surface.
Its rotational period is most likely 5.41 h, and it has a light-curve amplitude of 0.04±0.01 mag.
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