(119979) 2002 WC19
|
Discovery
|
|
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Palomar Observatory |
| Discovery date | November 16, 2002 |
|
Designations
|
|
| MPC designation | (119979) 2002 WC19 |
| Alternate name(s) | none |
| Minor planet category |
Twotino[1][2] |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 8989.786 Gm (60.093 AU) |
| Perihelion | 5269.094 Gm (35.222 AU) |
| Semi-major axis | 7129.440 Gm (47.657 AU) |
| Eccentricity | 0.261 |
| Orbital period | 120169.272 d (329.01 a) |
| Average orbital speed | 4.24 km/s |
| Mean anomaly | 305.041° |
| Inclination | 9.191° |
| Longitude of ascending node | 109.692° |
| Argument of perihelion | 45.322° |
| Satellites | 1 (~127 km)[3] |
|
Physical characteristics
|
|
| Dimensions | ~400 km (assumed)[3] |
| Surface area | 5.5×105 km² |
| Volume | 3.9×107 km³ |
| Mass | 7.8×1019? kg |
| Mean density | 2.0? g/cm³ |
| Equatorial surface gravity | 0.1174? m/s² |
| Escape velocity | 0.2220? km/s |
| Sidereal rotation period |
? d |
| Albedo | 0.09? (assumed) |
| Temperature | ~40 K |
| Spectral type | ? |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 5.0 |
(119979) 2002 WC19, also written as (119979) 2002 WC19, is a Trans-Neptunian object (TNO) orbiting beyond Pluto in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on November 16, 2002 at the Palomar Observatory.
 |
 Neptune is held stationary at 5 o'clock. |
2002 WC19 has a semi-major axis (average distance from the Sun) near the edge of the classical belt. It is in a 1:2 orbital resonance with Neptune, and thus is called a twotino.[1] For every one orbit that a twotino makes, Neptune orbits 2 times.
Knowing how many twotinos there are may reveal whether Neptune took roughly 1 million or 10 million years to migrate about 7 AU from its birth location.[4]
[edit] Satellite
A natural satellite was reported to be orbiting (119979) 2002 WC19 on February 27, 2007. It is estimated to be 2,760 ± 250 km from the primary and to be ~127 kilometres in diameter.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Marc W. Buie (2004/12/14 using 61 of 65 observations). "Orbit Fit and Astrometric record for 119979". SwRI (Space Science Department). http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~buie/kbo/astrom/119979.html. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
- ^ "MPEC 2009-C70 :Distant Minor Planets (2009 February 28.0 TT)". Minor Planet Center. 2009-02-10. http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K09/K09C70.html. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
- ^ a b c Wm. Robert Johnston (26 November 2008). "(119979) 2002 WC19". Johnston's Archive. http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/astmoons/am-119979.html. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
- ^ Ron Cowen (2009-01-04). "On the Fringe". ScienceNews. Archived from the original on 07 January 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20100107053508/http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/52225/title/On_the_Fringe. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
[edit] External links
- Orbital simulation from JPL (Java)
- Ephemeris
|
|||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
This article about a centaur (minor planet) or trans-Neptunian object is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
