Trans Neptunian Objects (TNOs) comprise a number of different category objects crossing or beyond the orbit of Neptune, and frequently overlapping in description. Note that Comets and Centaurs are not included. Great diagrams courtesy Wiki. Note that by pressing the . . . option and selecting, then clicking, Download, the image may be enlarged considerably.
View: https://imgur.com/a/beaINhn
Note that the only TNOs shown are categorised as Kuiper Belt Objects or Scattered Disk Objects. Other categories will be discussed. Note: Centaurs are excluded.
The largest TNOs currently known (2022) are smaller than Earth’s Moon:
View: https://imgur.com/a/K31BOiw
Kuiper Belt Objects
The Kuiper Belt begins approximately at the orbit of Neptune at 30 AU, and extends to around 50 AU. Some suggest further.
View: Https://imgur.com/a/Yr6YA6P
Orbits shown are of Neptune and Pluto. Image would be as seen from several hundred AU beyond Sun. No other TNOs shown.
Kuiper Belt Objects include some Dwarf Planets, such as Pluto,
Kuiper Belt Objects: Facts about the Kuiper Belt & KBOs | Space
Formation of Kuiper Belt
“When the solar system formed, much of the gas, dust and rocks pulled together to form the sun and planets. The planets then swept most of the remaining debris into the sun or out of the solar system. But objects at the edge of the solar system were far enough away to avoid the gravitational tugs of the much larger planets like Jupiter, and so managed to stay in their place as they slowly orbited the sun. The Kuiper Belt and its compatriot, the more distant and spherical Oort Cloud, contain the leftover remnants from the beginning of the solar system and can provide valuable insights into its birth.”
Some prominent KBOs:
Pluto Former planet, now designated Dwarf Planet, along with its largest Moon (or co-Dwarf Planet) Charon.
2004 DW All indications are that it is a “Plutino” – that is a KBO in orbit very similar to Pluto’s: Pluto goes around the Sun twice for every 3 times that Neptune goes around the Sun.
50000 Quaoar Dwarf Planet, about half the diameter of Pluto.
20000 Varuna The red color of Varuna's surface results from the photolysis of organic compounds being irradiated by sunlight and cosmic rays.
2000 WR106 One of the brightest known Trans-Neptunian Objects other than Pluto and its satellite Charon.
2002 AW197 the largest unnamed object in the Solar System. Possibly a cunewano. Cubewanos have orbits with semi-major axes in the 40–50 AU range and, unlike Pluto, do not cross Neptune's orbit. That is, they have low-eccentricity and sometimes low-inclination orbits like the classical planets.
The name "cubewano" derives from the first trans-Neptunian object (TNO) found after Pluto and Charon, and labelled QB1. Other similar objects sunsequently labelled “cu be one o’s”.
55636 = 2002 TX300 It is a large member of the Haumea family that was discovered on 15 October 2002 by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program.
28979 Ixion
2001 KX76 Virtual Telescope Observes Record-Breaking Asteroid - New data show that '2001 KX76' is larger than Ceres | ESA/Hubble (esahubble.org)
1999 CL119 1999 CL119 is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper Belt, classified as an extended Scattered Disk Object (DO) or Cubewano (CKBO) in terms of orbit dynamics. Due to its size, the asteroid may be one of the dwarf planet candidates.
15760 Albion It is a "cold" classical Kuiper belt object and gave rise to the name cubewano for this kind of object, after the QB1 portion of its designation.
Classical Kuiper Belt Objects
Classical Kuiper Belt Objects (ucla.edu)
Classical KBOs are those having orbits with modest eccentricities and semimajor axes roughly in the 40 to 47 AU range. They are defined as a group by their long-term stability - they simply never approach Neptune closely enough to have been ejected over the age of the Solar system.
Dwarf Planets
Dwarf planets are defined by size, not by location. However, apart from Ceres, which is in the Asteroid Belt, they seem (according to current thinking) to be in the Kuiper Belt.
Astronomers estimate that there could be as many as 200 dwarf planets in the solar system and the Kuiper Belt.
www.space.com/15216-dwarf-planets-facts-solar-system-sdcmp.html
Dwarf planet - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Dwarf_planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit of the Sun – something smaller than any of the eight classical planets, ...
List of possible dwarf planets · Ceres · Eris · Makemake
Apart from Sedna, the largest ten of these candidates have either been visited by spacecraft (Pluto and Ceres) or have at least one known moon (Pluto, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Orcus, and Salacia), which allows their masses and thus an estimate of their densities to be determined.
For nearly all of its orbit, Sedna is even farther from the Sun than at present: its orbit is one of the largest in the Solar System other than those of long-period comets, with its aphelion estimated at 937 AU.
Plutinos (Plutoids)
The Plutinos, shown in the inner belt of the Kuiper Belt, are a type of resonant object.
Plutinos are a dynamical group of trans-Neptunian objects that orbit in 2:3 mean-motion resonance with Neptune. This means that for every two orbits a plutino makes, Neptune orbits three times. The dwarf planet Pluto is the largest member as well as the namesake of this group. The next largest members are Orcus, (208996) 2003 AZ84, and Ixion. Plutinos are named after mythological creatures associated with the underworld.
Plutinos form the inner part of the Kuiper belt and represent about a quarter of the known Kuiper belt objects.
They are shown in red to the left (inner) side of the Kuiper Belt.
Other resonant objects are found in outer areas of the Solar System:
Orbital resonance - Wikipedia
View: https://imgur.com/a/beaINhn
Note that the only TNOs shown are categorised as Kuiper Belt Objects or Scattered Disk Objects. Other categories will be discussed. Note: Centaurs are excluded.
The largest TNOs currently known (2022) are smaller than Earth’s Moon:
View: https://imgur.com/a/K31BOiw
Kuiper Belt Objects
The Kuiper Belt begins approximately at the orbit of Neptune at 30 AU, and extends to around 50 AU. Some suggest further.
View: Https://imgur.com/a/Yr6YA6P
Orbits shown are of Neptune and Pluto. Image would be as seen from several hundred AU beyond Sun. No other TNOs shown.
Kuiper Belt Objects include some Dwarf Planets, such as Pluto,
Kuiper Belt Objects: Facts about the Kuiper Belt & KBOs | Space
Formation of Kuiper Belt
“When the solar system formed, much of the gas, dust and rocks pulled together to form the sun and planets. The planets then swept most of the remaining debris into the sun or out of the solar system. But objects at the edge of the solar system were far enough away to avoid the gravitational tugs of the much larger planets like Jupiter, and so managed to stay in their place as they slowly orbited the sun. The Kuiper Belt and its compatriot, the more distant and spherical Oort Cloud, contain the leftover remnants from the beginning of the solar system and can provide valuable insights into its birth.”
Some prominent KBOs:
Pluto Former planet, now designated Dwarf Planet, along with its largest Moon (or co-Dwarf Planet) Charon.
2004 DW All indications are that it is a “Plutino” – that is a KBO in orbit very similar to Pluto’s: Pluto goes around the Sun twice for every 3 times that Neptune goes around the Sun.
50000 Quaoar Dwarf Planet, about half the diameter of Pluto.
20000 Varuna The red color of Varuna's surface results from the photolysis of organic compounds being irradiated by sunlight and cosmic rays.
2000 WR106 One of the brightest known Trans-Neptunian Objects other than Pluto and its satellite Charon.
2002 AW197 the largest unnamed object in the Solar System. Possibly a cunewano. Cubewanos have orbits with semi-major axes in the 40–50 AU range and, unlike Pluto, do not cross Neptune's orbit. That is, they have low-eccentricity and sometimes low-inclination orbits like the classical planets.
The name "cubewano" derives from the first trans-Neptunian object (TNO) found after Pluto and Charon, and labelled QB1. Other similar objects sunsequently labelled “cu be one o’s”.
55636 = 2002 TX300 It is a large member of the Haumea family that was discovered on 15 October 2002 by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program.
28979 Ixion
2001 KX76 Virtual Telescope Observes Record-Breaking Asteroid - New data show that '2001 KX76' is larger than Ceres | ESA/Hubble (esahubble.org)
1999 CL119 1999 CL119 is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper Belt, classified as an extended Scattered Disk Object (DO) or Cubewano (CKBO) in terms of orbit dynamics. Due to its size, the asteroid may be one of the dwarf planet candidates.
15760 Albion It is a "cold" classical Kuiper belt object and gave rise to the name cubewano for this kind of object, after the QB1 portion of its designation.
Classical Kuiper Belt Objects
Classical Kuiper Belt Objects (ucla.edu)
Classical KBOs are those having orbits with modest eccentricities and semimajor axes roughly in the 40 to 47 AU range. They are defined as a group by their long-term stability - they simply never approach Neptune closely enough to have been ejected over the age of the Solar system.
Dwarf Planets
Dwarf planets are defined by size, not by location. However, apart from Ceres, which is in the Asteroid Belt, they seem (according to current thinking) to be in the Kuiper Belt.
Astronomers estimate that there could be as many as 200 dwarf planets in the solar system and the Kuiper Belt.
www.space.com/15216-dwarf-planets-facts-solar-system-sdcmp.html
Dwarf planet - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Dwarf_planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit of the Sun – something smaller than any of the eight classical planets, ...
List of possible dwarf planets · Ceres · Eris · Makemake
Apart from Sedna, the largest ten of these candidates have either been visited by spacecraft (Pluto and Ceres) or have at least one known moon (Pluto, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Orcus, and Salacia), which allows their masses and thus an estimate of their densities to be determined.
For nearly all of its orbit, Sedna is even farther from the Sun than at present: its orbit is one of the largest in the Solar System other than those of long-period comets, with its aphelion estimated at 937 AU.
Plutinos (Plutoids)
The Plutinos, shown in the inner belt of the Kuiper Belt, are a type of resonant object.
Plutinos are a dynamical group of trans-Neptunian objects that orbit in 2:3 mean-motion resonance with Neptune. This means that for every two orbits a plutino makes, Neptune orbits three times. The dwarf planet Pluto is the largest member as well as the namesake of this group. The next largest members are Orcus, (208996) 2003 AZ84, and Ixion. Plutinos are named after mythological creatures associated with the underworld.
Plutinos form the inner part of the Kuiper belt and represent about a quarter of the known Kuiper belt objects.
They are shown in red to the left (inner) side of the Kuiper Belt.
Other resonant objects are found in outer areas of the Solar System:
Orbital resonance - Wikipedia
Last edited:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram