(20000) Varuna
(20000) Varuna = 2000 WR106 is the third largest Trans-Neptunian
Object, with an absolute magnitude of 3.7. It was discovered
on November 28th 2000 with the SpaceWatch Telescope at Kitt Peak. The
orbit is based on 41 observations at 6 oppositions since 1954, when it
was imaged in the Palomar Observatory Sky survey. The location
of various other "pre-covery" images has allowed a high-quality orbit
to be calculated. The semi-major axis is 43.27AU and
the excentricity 0.053. With a period of 285 this object is classed as
a "Cubewanian" after the prototype object 1992 QB1.
Image: December 6th 2002
Animation of (20000) Varuna.
The TNO is the faint object at the
point of the arrow. At the time that these images were taken it was at
43.14AU
from the Sun and had a magnitude of R=19.0.
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Ramón Naves & Montse Campàs
ramonnaves@telefonica.net
MPC 213, OBSERVATORIO MONTCABRER CABRILS (SPAIN)
http://astrosurf.com/cometas
Observations from:
- Ramón Naves & Montse Campàs - MPC 213
For the elements and the current ephemeris from the Minor
Planet Center click here.
For a daily ephemeris, click here.
Última actualización 11/01/03
Por M.R.Kidger
Correo electrónico: mrk@iac.es