Browse All : Quaoar

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Size Comparisons
Title Size Comparisons
Description The artist's rendition shows the newly discovered planet-like object, dubbed "Sedna," in relation to other bodies in the Solar System, including Earth and its Moon, Pluto, and Quaoar, a planetoid beyond Pluto that was until now the largest known object beyond Pluto. The diameter of Sedna is slightly smaller than Pluto's but likely somewhat larger than Quaoar.
Size Comparisons
Title Size Comparisons
Description The artist's rendition shows the newly discovered planet-like object, dubbed "Sedna," in relation to other bodies in the Solar System, including Earth and its Moon, Pluto, and Quaoar, a planetoid beyond Pluto that was until now the largest known object beyond Pluto. The diameter of Sedna is slightly smaller than Pluto's but likely somewhat larger than Quaoar.
Distant Planetoid
title Distant Planetoid
date 02.17.2004
description The small dot moving slightly off to the left of center in this image is newly-discovered Kuiper Belt object 2004 DW. 2004 DW was found in images taken Feb 17, 2004 (nearly 74 years to the day after Pluto was discovered) by Mike Brown (Caltech), Chad Trujillo (Gemini Observatory) and David Rabinowitz (Yale). They are the same people who found Quaoar in the summer of 2002. 2004 DW is one of the largest Kuiper Belt objects currently known. Initial indications are that it may be over half the diameter of Pluto, larger than Quaoar, and 2.4 billion kilometers (1.5 billion miles) further away than Pluto. Read more about 2004 DW. *Image Credit*: California Institute of Technology
Sedna Size Comparison
title Sedna Size Comparison
description The artist's rendition shows the newly discovered planet-like object, dubbed 'Sedna,' in relation to other bodies in the Solar System, including Earth and its Moon, Pluto, and Quaoar, a planetoid beyond Pluto that was until now the largest known object beyond Pluto. The diameter of Sedna is slightly smaller than Pluto's but likely somewhat larger than Quaoar. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC-Caltech)
Another World
title Another World
description This artist's conception of newly-discovered object 'Quaoar' - orbiting our Sun far beyond Pluto - shows how the tiny object compares to the size of North America. It is the largest object discovered in our solar system since Pluto was found in 1930.
Hubble Spots an Icy World Fa …
Title Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto
Hubble Spots an Icy World Fa …
Title Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto
Hubble Spots an Icy World Fa …
Title Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto
Hubble Spots an Icy World Fa …
Title Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto
Hubble Spots an Icy World Fa …
Title Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto
Hubble Spots an Icy World Fa …
Title Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto
Hubble Spots an Icy World Fa …
Title Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto
Hubble Spots an Icy World Fa …
Title Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto
Hubble Spots an Icy World Fa …
Title Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto
Hubble Spots an Icy World Fa …
Title Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto
Quaoar: Large Asteroid in th …
Title Quaoar: Large Asteroid in the Outer Solar System
Explanation Asteroids almost as large as planets are still being discovered [ http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~chad/quaoar/ ] in our own Solar System [ http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html ]. Recently an asteroid [ http://www.nineplanets.org/asteroids.html ] more than half the size of Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/pluto.html ] was found orbiting at a distance [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020623.html ] only a little further than the Solar System's most distant planet [ http://dosxx.colorado.edu/plutohome.html ]. The large asteroid [ http://www.solarviews.com/eng/asteroid.htm ] moves relative to background stars in the discovery images shown above taken by the Oschin Telescope [ http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news027.html ] at Palomar [ http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/overview.html ], California [ http://www.state.ca.us/ ], USA [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html ]. Quaoar, the name suggested for the space rock by its discoverers, is one of several large asteroids [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010830.html ] discovered recently that roam [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020724.html ] in the distant Kuiper Belt [ http://www.nineplanets.org/kboc.html ]. Quaoar's size was resolved [ http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/2002/17/index.html ] by images from the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/ ]. Quaoar is likely a cold world [ http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/2002/17/pr.html ] covered in ice from which the Sun appears [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000810.html ] only as a particularly bright star.
Sedna Size Comparisons
PIA05567
Samuel Oschin Telescope
Title Sedna Size Comparisons
Original Caption Released with Image The artist's rendition shows the newly discovered planet-like object, dubbed "Sedna," in relation to other bodies in the solar system, including Earth and its Moon, Pluto, and Quaoar, a planetoid beyond Pluto that was until now the largest known object beyond Pluto. The diameter of Sedna is slightly smaller than Pluto's but likely somewhat larger than Quaoar.
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