2012 VP₁₁₃, also known by its nickname "Biden", is a trans-Neptunian object of the sednoid population, located in the outermost reaches of the Solar System. It was first observed on 5 November 2012 by American astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.[1][2] The discovery was announced on 26 March 2014.[10][12] The object probably measures somewhere between 300 and 1000 km in diameter, possibly large enough to be a dwarf planet.

2012 VP₁₁₃

Orbital diagrams of 2012 VP113 with Pluto and the outer planets as of 2017
Discovery[1][2]
Discovered by	S. S. Sheppard C. Trujillo
Discovery site	Cerro Tololo Obs.
Discovery date	5 November 2012 (announced: 26 March 2014)
Designations
MPC designation	2012 VP113
Alternative designations	"Biden" (nickname)
Minor planet category	TNO[3] sednoid[4]
Orbital characteristics[3]
Epoch 2022 Aug 09 (JD 2459800.5)
Uncertainty parameter 4
Observation arc	8.29 yr (3,028 d)
Aphelion	462±1 AU
Perihelion	80.522 AU[5] 80.47±0.03 AU
Semi-major axis	271.5±0.6 AU
Eccentricity	0.7036±0.0007
Orbital period (sidereal)	4473±14 yr 4240 yr (barycentric)[6]
Mean anomaly	3.50°±0.01°
Mean motion	0° 0m 0.792s / day
Inclination	24.0563°±0.006°
Longitude of ascending node	90.787°
Time of perihelion	≈ 28 September 1979[5]
Argument of perihelion	293.8°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	574 km?[7] 300–1000 km[8]
Geometric albedo	0.09 (assumed)[4][9] 0.15[10]
Spectral type	moderately red V−R = 0.52[10] B−V = 0.92
Apparent magnitude	23.34[11]
Absolute magnitude (H)	4.1[3]

Classification and physical characteristics

2012 VP₁₁₃ is the minor planet with the farthest known perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in the Solar System, greater than Sedna's.[13] Though its perihelion is farther, 2012 VP₁₁₃ has an aphelion only about half of Sedna's. It is the second discovered sednoid, with semi-major axis beyond 150 AU and perihelion greater than 50 AU. The similarity of the orbit of 2012 VP₁₁₃ to other known extreme trans-Neptunian objects led Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo to suggest that an undiscovered object, Planet Nine, in the outer Solar System is shepherding these distant objects into similar type orbits.[10]

It has an absolute magnitude of 4.0,[1] which means it may be large enough to be a dwarf planet.[14] It is expected to be about half the size of Sedna and similar in size to Huya.[8] Its surface is thought to have a pink tinge, resulting from chemical changes produced by the effect of radiation on frozen water, methane, and carbon dioxide.[15] This optical color is consistent with formation in the gas-giant region and not the classical Kuiper belt, which is dominated by ultra-red colored objects.[10]

History

Discovery

2012 VP₁₁₃ was first observed on 5 November 2012[2] with NOAO's 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.[16] Carnegie's 6.5-meter Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile was used to determine its orbit and surface properties.[16] Before being announced to the public, it was only tracked by Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (807) and Las Campanas Observatory (304).[1] Two precovery measurements from 22 October 2011 have been reported.[1] A primary issue with observing it and finding precovery observations of it is that at an apparent magnitude of 23, it is too faint for most telescopes to easily observe.

Nickname

2012 VP₁₁₃ was abbreviated "VP" and nicknamed "Biden" by the discovery team, after Joe Biden who, at the time of discovery, was vice president ("VP") of the United States.[12]

Orbit

2012 VP₁₁₃ has the largest perihelion distance of any known object in the Solar System.[17] Its last perihelion was within a couple months of September 1979.[5] The paucity of bodies with perihelia at 50–75 AU appears not to be an observational artifact.[10]

It is possibly a member of a hypothesized Hills cloud.[8][16][18] It has a perihelion, argument of perihelion, and current position in the sky similar to those of Sedna.[8] In fact, all known Solar System bodies with semi-major axes over 150 AU and perihelia greater than Neptune's have arguments of perihelion clustered near 340°±55°.[10] This could indicate a similar formation mechanism for these bodies.[10] (148209) 2000 CR105 was the first such object discovered.

It is currently unknown how 2012 VP₁₁₃ acquired a perihelion distance beyond the Kuiper belt. The characteristics of its orbit, like those of Sedna's, have been explained as possibly created by a passing star or a trans-Neptunian planet of several Earth masses hundreds of astronomical units from the Sun.[19] The orbital architecture of the trans-Plutonian region may signal the presence of more than one planet.[20][21] 2012 VP₁₁₃ could even be captured from another planetary system.[14] However, it is considered more likely that the perihelion of 2012 VP₁₁₃ was raised by multiple interactions within the crowded confines of the open star cluster in which the Sun formed.[8]

• 
  Simulated view showing the orbit of 2012 VP₁₁₃
• 
  2012 VP113 orbit in white with hypothetical Planet Nine
• 
  The orbits of known distant objects with large aphelion distances over 200 AU

See also

• List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun
• 90377 Sedna (relatively large and also distant body)
• 541132 Leleākūhonua (distant sednoid)
• List of hyperbolic comets

Other large aphelion objects

• 2012 DR30 (15–2880 AU)
• 2005 VX3 (4–1630 AU)
• 2013 BL76 (8–1870 AU)
• 2014 FE72 (36–2680 AU)

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2012 VP113.

• 2012 VP113 Inner Oort Cloud Object Discovery Images from Scott S. Sheppard/Carnegie Institution for Science.
• 2012 VP113 has Q=460 ± 30 Archived 28 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine (mpml: CFHT 2011-Oct-22 precovery)
• List of Known Trans-Neptunian Objects, Johnston's Archive
• List Of Centaurs and Scattered-Disk Objects, Minor Planet Center
• 2012 VP113 at the JPL Small-Body Database
  • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters

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