Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-03-30
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
11 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ letters.
Scientific paper
Here we report WFPC2 observations of the Quaoar-Weywot Kuiper belt binary. From these observations we find that Weywot is on an elliptical orbit with eccentricity of 0.14 {\pm} 0.04, period of 12.438 {\pm} 0.005 days, and a semi-major axis of 1.45 {\pm} 0.08 {\times} 104 km. The orbit reveals a surpsingly high Quaoar-Weywot system mass of 1.6{\pm}0.3{\times}10^21 kg. Using the surface properties of the Uranian and Neptunian satellites as a proxy for Quaoar's surface, we reanalyze the size estimate from Brown and Trujillo (2004). We find, from a mean of available published size estimates, a diameter for Quaoar of 890 {\pm} 70 km. We find Quaoar's density to be \rho = 4.2 {\pm} 1.3 g cm^-3, possibly the highest density in the Kuiper belt.
Brown Michael E.
Fraser Wesley Christopher
No associations
LandOfFree
Quaoar: A Rock in the Kuiper belt does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Quaoar: A Rock in the Kuiper belt, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Quaoar: A Rock in the Kuiper belt will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-579005