We discuss the exploration of an H r = 3.4 ± 0.1 dwarf planet candidate by the Pan-STARRS Outer Solar System Survey. 2010 JO179 is red with (g – r) = 0.88 ± 0.21, roughly round, and slowly rotating, with a period of 30.6 hr. Estimates of its albedo imply a diameter of 600–900 km. Observations sampling the span between 2005 and 2016 provide an exceptionally well determined orbit for 2010 JO179, with a semimajor axis of 78.307 ± 0.009 au; distant orbits known to this precision are rare. We discover that 2010 JO179 librates securely within the 21:5 mean-motion resonance with Neptune on 100 Myr timescales, joining the small but growing set of known distant dwarf planets on metastable resonant orbits. These suggest a substantial trans-Neptunian population that shifts between stability in high-order resonances, the detached population, and the eroding population of the scattering disk.
Holman, Matthew J., et al. "A Dwarf Planet Class Object in the 21:5 Resonance with Neptune." The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online), vol. 855, no. 1, Feb. 2018. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aaadb3
Holman, Matthew J., Payne, Matthew J., Fraser, Wesley, Lacerda, Pedro, Bannister, Michele T., Lackner, Michael, Chen, Ying-Tung, Lin, Hsing Wen, Smith, Kenneth W., Kokotanekova, Rosita, Young, David, Chambers, K., Chastel, S., Denneau, L., Fitzsimmons, A., Flewelling, H., Grav, Tommy, Huber, M., ... Weryk, R. (2018). A Dwarf Planet Class Object in the 21:5 Resonance with Neptune. The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online), 855(1). https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aaadb3
Holman, Matthew J., Payne, Matthew J., Fraser, Wesley, et al., "A Dwarf Planet Class Object in the 21:5 Resonance with Neptune," The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online) 855, no. 1 (2018), https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aaadb3
@article{osti_1544095,
author = {Holman, Matthew J. and Payne, Matthew J. and Fraser, Wesley and Lacerda, Pedro and Bannister, Michele T. and Lackner, Michael and Chen, Ying-Tung and Lin, Hsing Wen and Smith, Kenneth W. and Kokotanekova, Rosita and others},
title = {A Dwarf Planet Class Object in the 21:5 Resonance with Neptune},
annote = {We discuss the exploration of an H r = 3.4 ± 0.1 dwarf planet candidate by the Pan-STARRS Outer Solar System Survey. 2010 JO179 is red with (g – r) = 0.88 ± 0.21, roughly round, and slowly rotating, with a period of 30.6 hr. Estimates of its albedo imply a diameter of 600–900 km. Observations sampling the span between 2005 and 2016 provide an exceptionally well determined orbit for 2010 JO179, with a semimajor axis of 78.307 ± 0.009 au; distant orbits known to this precision are rare. We discover that 2010 JO179 librates securely within the 21:5 mean-motion resonance with Neptune on 100 Myr timescales, joining the small but growing set of known distant dwarf planets on metastable resonant orbits. These suggest a substantial trans-Neptunian population that shifts between stability in high-order resonances, the detached population, and the eroding population of the scattering disk.},
doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/aaadb3},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1544095},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online)},
issn = {ISSN 2041-8213},
number = {1},
volume = {855},
place = {United States},
publisher = {Institute of Physics (IOP)},
year = {2018},
month = {02}}