Latest Trans-Neptunian object Stories
In October 2002, the Hubble Space Telescope first spotted an icy planetoid beyond Pluto. Named after an American Indian god, Quaoar, the planetoid should be far colder based on its distance from the sun than it appears to be. One reason for its temperature may be internal heating from a radioactive core, or alternatively volcanoes and impacts.Astrobiology Magazine -- A planetoid beyond Pluto was discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope in October 2002, and given the name, Quaoar. Like...
Latest Trans-Neptunian object Reference Libraries
Quaoar -- Quaoar ("kwah-oh-ahr", /kwA o Ar/) is a Trans-Neptunian object circling the Sun in the Kuiper belt, discovered in 2002 by astronomers Chad Trujillo and Mike Brown at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. Quaoar is estimated to have a diameter of about 1,280 kilometres, which would make it the largest Solar System object discovered since Pluto and, indeed, the largest known minor planet. Larger than all the asteroids put together, it is about one...
Planet Charon -- Charon is the only known satellite of Pluto. Charon was discovered by astronomer James Christy in 1978 using photographic plates which showed a bulge moving around Pluto. Christy named it after the Greek mythological figure Charon but pronounced it differently. The "ch" at the beginning of the moon's name is soft so it sounds like "Sharon," after the astronomer's wife Charlene, nicknamed Char, which both have soft ch sounds. The mythological figure's name is...
