Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
Quaoar: Large Asteroid in the Outer Solar System
Explanation:
Asteroids almost as large as planets are still being discovered [ http://www.gps.calt…] in our own Solar System [ http://www.nineplan…]. Recently an asteroid [ http://www.nineplan…] more than half the size of Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] was found orbiting at a distance [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] only a little further than the Solar System's most distant planet [ http://dosxx.colora…]. The large asteroid [ http://www.solarvie…] moves relative to background stars in the discovery images shown above taken by the Oschin Telescope [ http://neo.jpl.nasa…] at Palomar [ http://www.astro.ca…], California [ http://www.state.ca…], USA [ http://www.cia.gov/…]. Quaoar, the name suggested for the space rock by its discoverers, is one of several large asteroids [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] discovered recently that roam [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in the distant Kuiper Belt [ http://www.nineplan…]. Quaoar's size was resolved [ http://oposite.stsc…] by images from the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://www.stsci.ed…]. Quaoar is likely a cold world [ http://oposite.stsc…] covered in ice from which the Sun appears [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] only as a particularly bright star.
Credit and Copyright:
Chad Trujillo [ http://www.gps.calt…] & Michael Brown [ http://www.gps.calt…] (Caltech [ http://www.gps.calt…])
keyword:
asteroid
keyword:
Quaoar
facet_where:
Pluto
facet_where:
California
facet_where:
Colorado
facet_where:
Chad
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_what:
Sun
facet_what:
Pluto
facet_what:
Quaoar
facet_what:
asteroid
facet_what:
solar system
facet_what:
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap021009

Quaoar: Large Asteroid in the Outer Solar System
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