Weywot
Moon of dwarf planet 50000 Quaoar / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Weywot (formal designation (50000) Quaoar I; provisional designation S/2006 (50000) 1) is a natural satellite or moon of the trans-Neptunian dwarf planet 50000 Quaoar. It was discovered by Michael Brown and Terry-Ann Suer using images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on 14 February 2006. Named after the Tongva sky god and son of Quaoar, Weywot is thought to be a fragment of Quaoar that was ejected into an eccentric orbit around the dwarf planet by a major impact event billions of years ago. The moon is nearly 200 km (120 mi) in diameter and it orbits Quaoar every 12.4 days at an average distance of 13,300 km (8,300 mi). Weywot is thought to play a role in maintaining Quaoar's outer ring by gravitationally influencing it in an orbital resonance.
Discovery[1][2] | |
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Discovered by |
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Discovery date | 14 February 2006 |
Designations | |
Designation | (50000) Quaoar I[4]: 134 |
Pronunciation | /ˈweɪwɒt/ |
S/2006 (50000) 1[5] | |
Orbital characteristics[6] | |
Epoch 23 March 2008 (JD 2454549.42)[6] | |
13289±189 km (2023)[7] 13900±200 (2013)[6] | |
Eccentricity | 0.056±0.093 (2023)[7] 0.137±0.006 (2013)[6] |
12.4311±0.0015 d (2023)[7] 12.4314±0.0002 d (2013)[6] | |
Inclination | 15.8°±0.7° (to ecliptic) |
1.0°±0.7° | |
335°±0.7° | |
Satellite of | 50000 Quaoar |
Physical characteristics | |
Mean diameter | ≈ 200 km[8] |
Albedo | ≈ 0.04[8] |
24.7[9][lower-alpha 1] | |
≈ 8.3[lower-alpha 1] | |