List of the brightest KBOs

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Main article: Kuiper belt

Since the year 2000, a number of KBOs with diameters of between 500 and 1200 km (about half that of Pluto) have been discovered. 50000 Quaoar, a classical KBO discovered in 2002, is over 1200 km across. (136472) 2005 FY9 (nicknamed "Easterbunny") and (136108) 2003 EL61 (nicknamed "Santa"), both announced on 29 July 2005, are larger still. Other objects, such as 28978 Ixion (discovered in 2001) and 20000 Varuna (discovered in 2000) measure roughly 500 km across.[1] This has led gradually to the acceptance of Pluto as the largest member of the Kuiper belt.

The brightest known KBOs (with absolute magnitudes < 4.0), are:

Permanent
Designation		 Provisional
Designation		 Absolute magnitude Albedo (%)[2] Equatorial diameter
(km)[2]		 Semimajor axis
(AU)		 Date found Discoverer Diameter method
Pluto[3] −1.0 60 2320 39.4 1930 C. Tombaugh occultation
136472 2005 FY9[4] −0.3 80. +10.−20. 1500.−200+400 45.7 2005 M. Brown, C. Trujillo & D. Rabinowitz Thermal
136108 2003 EL61[5] 0.1 84. +10−20 1150.−100+250 43.3 2005 M. Brown, C. Trujillo & D. Rabinowitz Thermal
Charon[6] S/1978 P 1 1 40 1205 39.4 1978 J. Christy occultation
Orcus 2004 DW 2.3 19.72 +3.40−2.76 946.3 −72.3+74.1 39.4 2004 M. Brown, C. Trujillo & D. Rabinowitz Thermal
Quaoar 2002 LM60 2.6 19.9 +13.2−7. 844 −190+207 / 1260 ± 190 43.5 2002 C. Trujillo & M. Brown Disk resolved/thermal
Ixion 2001 KX76 3.2 12 +14−6 650 −220+260 39.6 2001 DES Thermal
55636 2002 TX300 3.3 > 10 < 800 43.1 2002 NEAT Thermal
55565 2002 AW197 3.3 11.77 +4.42−3.00 734.6 −108.3+116.4 47.4 2002 C. Trujillo, M. Brown, E. Helin, Steven H. Pravdo,
K. Lawrence & Michael D. Hicks / Palomar Observatory		 Thermal
55637 2002 UX25 3.6 11.50 +5.09−3.09 681.2 −114.0+115.6 42.5 2002 Anne S. Descour / Spacewatch Thermal
Varuna 2000 WR106 3.7 16 +10−8 500 −100+100 43.0 2000 R. McMillan Thermal
2002 MS4 3.8 8.41 +3.78−2.26 726.2 −122.9+123.2 41.8 2002 C. Trujillo, M. Brown Thermal
2003 AZ84[7] 3.9 12.32 +4.31−2.91 685.8 −95.5+98.8 39.6 2003 C. Trujillo, M. Brown, E. Helin, Steven H. Pravdo,
K. Lawrence & Michael D. Hicks		 Thermal

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Audrey Delsanti and David Jewitt. The Solar System Beyond The Planets. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii. Retrieved on 2007-03-09.
  2. ^ a b John Stansberry, Will Grundy, Mike Brown, Dale Cruikshank, John Spencer, David Trilling, Jean-Luc Margot (2007). Physical Properties of Kuiper Belt and Centaur Objects: Constraints from Spitzer Space Telescope. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
  3. ^ NASA Pluto planetary factsheet accessed on July 1 2007
  4. ^ MPEC 2005-O42 : 2005 FY9. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  5. ^ Wm. Robert Johnston. (136108) 2003 EL61, S/2005 (2003 EL61) 1, and S/2005 (2003 EL61) 2. Retrieved on 2007-07-01.
  6. ^ Wm. Robert Johnston. Pluto, Charon, Nix, and Hydra. Retrieved on 2007-07-01.
  7. ^ MPEC 2003-B27 : 2003 AZ84. Minor Planet Center. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.