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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 |
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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. |
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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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