Discovery
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Discovered by | Henry G. Roe, Michael E. Brown, Kristina M. Barkume |
Discovery date | September 22, 2004 |
Designations
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MPC designation | (120347) 2004 SB60 |
Pronunciation | /sæˈleɪʃⁱə/ |
Minor planet category |
Cubewano (MPC)[1] Extended (DES)[2] |
Aphelion | 46.5474 AU |
Perihelion | 37.3920 AU |
Semi-major axis | 41.9697 AU |
Eccentricity | 0.109071 |
Orbital period | 90312.3 d, 271.90y |
Mean anomaly | 107.849° |
Inclination | 23.920° |
Longitude of ascending node | 280.008° |
Argument of perihelion | 309.461° |
Satellites | 1 |
Physical characteristics
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Dimensions | 548 km (assumed)[4] |
Mass | 2.04×1020 kg |
Mean density | 2.0? (assumed) |
Albedo | 0.09 (assumed) |
Absolute magnitude (H) | 4.25[3] |
120347 Salacia,[5] original provisional designation: (120347) 2004 SB60, is a trans-Neptunian object that resides in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on September 22, 2004 by Henry G. Roe, Michael E. Brown, and Kristina M. Barkume at the Palomar Observatory. Brown expects it to be a dwarf planet.[6]
It has been observed 71 times with precovery images back to 1982.[3]
Salacia orbits the Sun at an average distance slightly greater than that of Pluto.
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(120347) 2004 SB60 was assigned the name Salacia /sæˈleɪʃə/ on 2011 Feb 18. Salacia is the goddess of salt water and the wife of Neptune.[7]
The moon's name Actaea /ækˈtiːə/ was assigned on the same date. Actaea is a nereid, or sea nymph.
Even though Salacia has an inclination of 24°, it is not a Haumea-family member since the near infrared spectrum is basically featureless and shows less than 5% water-ice.[8]
Salacia has one natural satellite Actaea that orbits its primary every 5 days at a distance of 3500 km. It has a tentative size of ~190 km.[9] It was discovered on 21 July 2006 by Keith S. Noll, Harold Levison, Denise Stephens and Will Grundy with the Hubble Space Telescope.[10]
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