2021 RR205 is an extreme trans-Neptunian object and sednoid discovered by astronomers Scott Sheppard, David Tholen, and Chad Trujillo with the Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory on 5 September 2021. It resides beyond the outer extent of the Kuiper belt on a distant and highly eccentric orbit detached from Neptune's gravitational influence, with a large perihelion distance of 55.5 astronomical units (AU).[5] Its large orbital semi-major axis (~1,000 AU) suggests it is potentially from the inner Oort cloud.[7][3] Like 2013 SY99, 2021 RR205 lies in the 50–75 AU perihelion gap that separates the detached objects from the more distant sednoids; dynamical studies indicate that such objects in the inner edge this gap weakly experience "diffusion", or inward orbital migration due to minuscule perturbations by Neptune.[7]
Discovery[1] | |
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Discovered by | S. S. Sheppard D. J. Tholen C. Trujillo |
Discovery site | Mauna Kea Obs. |
Discovery date | 5 September 2021 |
Designations | |
MPC designation | 2021 RR205 |
Minor planet category | TNO[2] · sednoid[3] · detached · distant[4] |
Orbital characteristics (barycentric)[5] | |
Epoch 25 February 2023 (JD 2460000.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 3[2] | |
Observation arc | 5.11 yr (1,867 days) |
Earliest precovery date | 24 July 2017 |
Aphelion | 1926 AU |
Perihelion | 55.541 AU |
Semi-major axis | 990.9 AU |
Eccentricity | 0.94395 |
Orbital period (sidereal) | 31173 yr |
Mean anomaly | 0.363° |
Mean motion | 0° 0m 0.114s / day |
Inclination | 7.644° |
Longitude of ascending node | 108.345° |
Argument of perihelion | 208.574° |
Physical characteristics | |
Mean diameter | 100–200 km (est. 0.1–0.2)[6] |
Apparent magnitude | 24.6[1] |
Absolute magnitude (H) | 6.77±0.11[2] · 6.74[4] |
2021 RR205's heliocentric distance was 60 AU when it was discovered.[2] It has been detected in precovery observations by the Dark Energy Survey at Cerro Tololo Observatory from as early as July 2017.[4] It last passed perihelion in the early 1990s and is now moving outbound from the Sun.[1]
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