List of the brightest Kuiper belt objects

Main article: Kuiper belt

Since the year 2000, a number of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) with diameters of between 500 and 1500 km (more than half that of Pluto) have been discovered. 50000 Quaoar, a classical KBO discovered in 2002, is over 1200 km across. Makemake and Haumea, 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
Makemake 2005 FY9[4] -0.3 80. +10.−20. 1500. -200+400 45.7 2005 M. Brown, C. Trujillo & D. Rabinowitz Thermal
Haumea 2003 EL61[5] 0.1 84. +10−20 1150. -100+250 43.3 2005 Sierra Nevada Observatory, Spain[6] Thermal
Charon[7] 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. or more 800. or less 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 08.41 +3.78−2.26 726.2 -122.9+123.2 41.8 2002 C. Trujillo, M. Brown Thermal
2003 AZ84[8] 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

See also

References

  1. ^ Audrey Delsanti and David Jewitt. "The Solar System Beyond The Planets". Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii. Archived from the original on 2007-01-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20070129151907/http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/papers/2006/DJ06.pdf. Retrieved 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". arXiv:astro-ph/0702538. 
  3. ^ NASA Pluto planetary factsheet accessed on July 1, 2007
  4. ^ "MPEC 2005-O42 : 2005 FY9". http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/K05/K05O42.html. Retrieved 2007-06-01. 
  5. ^ Wm. Robert Johnston. "(136108) 2003 EL61, S/2005 (2003 EL61) 1, and S/2005 (2003 EL61) 2". http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/astmoons/am-136108.html. Retrieved 2007-07-01. 
  6. ^ "MPEC 2005-O36 : 2003 EL61". http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/K05/K05O36.html. 
  7. ^ Wm. Robert Johnston. "Pluto, Charon, Nix, and Hydra". http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/astmoons/am-pluto.html. Retrieved 2007-07-01. 
  8. ^ "MPEC 2003-B27 : 2003 AZ84". Minor Planet Center. http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/mpec/K03/K03B27.html. Retrieved 2007-07-02.