Loading AI tools
Trans-Neptunian object and highly eccentric centaur From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(308933) 2006 SQ372 is a trans-Neptunian object and highly eccentric centaur on a cometary-like orbit in the outer region of the Solar System, approximately 123 kilometers (76 miles) in diameter. It was discovered through the Sloan Digital Sky Survey by astronomers Andrew Becker, Andrew Puckett and Jeremy Kubica on images first taken on 27 September 2006 (with precovery images dated to 13 September 2005).[1][8][9][10]
Hubble Space Telescope image of 2006 SQ372 taken in 2009 | |
| Discovery[1][2] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | A. C. Becker A. W. Puckett J. Kubica |
| Discovery site | APO |
| Discovery date | 27 September 2006 |
| Designations | |
| (308933) 2006 SQ372 | |
| 2006 SQ372 | |
| TNO[3] · centaur[2][4][5] · distant[1] | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 1 | |
| Observation arc | 9.86 yr (3,602 days) |
| Aphelion | 1,785.882 AU (267.1641 Tm) |
| Perihelion | 24.1420436 AU (3.61159832 Tm) |
| 905.0119510 AU (135.38786083 Tm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.9733241 |
| 27226 yr | |
| 0.1796° | |
| 0° 0m 0s / day | |
| Inclination | 19.496° |
| 197.34° | |
| 122.28° | |
| Neptune MOID | 1.4692 AU (219.79 Gm) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 60–140 km[6] 122 km[5] 124 km[7] | |
| 0.08 (estimate)[7] | |
| IR-RR[5] B–R = 1.62[5] | |
| 7.8[3] · 8.0[7] | |
It has a highly eccentric orbit, crossing that of Neptune near perihelion but bringing it more than 1,500 AU from the Sun at aphelion.[4] It takes about 22,500 years to orbit the barycenter of the Solar System.[11] The large semi-major axis makes it similar to 2000 OO67 and Sedna.[11] With an absolute magnitude (H) of 8.1,[3] it is estimated to be about 60 to 140 km in diameter.[6] Michael Brown estimates that it has an albedo of 0.08 which would give a diameter of around 110 km.[7]
The object could possibly be a comet.[11] The discoverers hypothesize that the object could come from the Hills cloud,[11] but other scientists like California Institute of Technology's Michael Brown also consider other possibilities, including the theory "it may have formed from debris just beyond Neptune [in the Kuiper belt] and been 'kicked' into its distant orbit by a planet like Neptune or Uranus".[12]
The orbit of 2006 SQ372 currently comes closer to Neptune than any of the other giant planets.[1] More than half of the simulations of this object show that it gets too close to either Uranus or Neptune within the next 180 million years, sending it in a currently unknown direction.[13] This makes it difficult to classify this object as only a centaur or a scattered disc object. The Minor Planet Center, which officially catalogues all trans-Neptunian objects, lists centaurs and SDOs together.[2] (29981) 1999 TD10 is another such object that blurs the two categories.[14]
Given the extreme orbital eccentricity of this object, different epochs can generate quite different heliocentric unperturbed two-body best-fit solutions to the aphelion distance (maximum distance) of this object.[b] With a 2005 epoch the object had an approximate period of about 22,000 years with aphelion at 1557 AU.[4] But using a 2011 epoch shows a period of about 32,000 years with aphelion at 2006 AU.[3] For objects at such high eccentricity, the Sun's barycentric coordinates are more stable than heliocentric coordinates.[11] Using JPL Horizons with an observed orbital arc of only 2.9 years, the barycentric orbital elements for epoch 2008-May-14 generate a semi-major axis of 796 AU and a period of 22,466 years.[11]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
