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(15874) 1996 TL66 (provisional designation 1996 TL66) is a trans-Neptunian object of the scattered disc orbiting in the outermost region of the Solar System.[2][3]
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | D. C. Jewitt J. X. Luu J. Chen C. A. Trujillo |
| Discovery site | Mauna Kea Obs. |
| Discovery date | 9 October 1996 |
| Designations | |
| (15874) 1996 TL66 | |
| 1996 TL66 | |
| TNO[2] · SDO[3] distant[4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 2 | |
| Observation arc | 5883 days (16.11 yr) |
| Aphelion | 131.75 AU (19.710 Tm) |
| Perihelion | 35.057 AU (5.2445 Tm) |
| 83.403 AU (12.4769 Tm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.57967 |
| 761.70 yr (278211 d) | |
| 6.8505° | |
| 0° 0m 4.658s / day | |
| Inclination | 24.006° |
| 217.82° | |
| 184.79° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 339±20 km[5] 575±115 km[6] | |
| 12 h (0.50 d)[2] | |
| 0.110+0.021 −0.015[5] 0.035+0.02 −0.01[6] | |
| B–V = 0.687±0.072[7] V–R = 0.369±0.052[7] | |
| 21[8] | |
| 5.4[2] | |
The Spitzer Space Telescope has estimated this object to be about 575 kilometres (357 mi) in diameter,[6] but 2012 estimates from the Herschel Space Observatory estimate the diameter as closer to 339 kilometres (211 mi).[5] It is not a detached object, since its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) is under the influence of Neptune.[3] Light-curve-amplitude analysis suggests that it is a spheroid.[9] Tancredi presents "in the form of a decision tree, the set of questions to be considered in order to classify an object as an icy 'dwarf planet'." They find that (15874) 1996 TL66 is very probably a dwarf planet.[10] Mike Brown's website, using a radiometrically determined diameter of 344 kilometres (214 mi), lists it as a possible dwarf planet.[11]
Discovered in 1996 by David C. Jewitt et al., it was the first object to be categorized as a scattered-disk object (SDO), although (48639) 1995 TL8, discovered a year earlier, was later recognised as a scattered-disk object. It was considered one the largest known trans-Neptunian objects at the time of the discovery, being placed second after Pluto.[12] It came to perihelion in 2001.[2]
(15874) 1996 TL66 orbits the Sun with a semi-major axis of 83.9 AU[2] but is currently only 35 AU from the Sun with an apparent magnitude of 21.[8] In 2007, the Spitzer Space Telescope estimated it to have a low albedo with a diameter of about 575±115 km.[6] More-recent measurements in 2012 by the 'TNOs are Cool' research project and reanalysis of older data have resulted in a new estimate of these figures.[5] It is now assumed that it has a higher albedo and the diameter was revised downward to 339±20 km. Light-curve-amplitude analysis shows only small deviations, suggesting (15874) 1996 TL66 is a spheroid with small albedo spots and may be a dwarf planet.[9]
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