A dwarf planet class object in the 21:5 resonance with Neptune

Matthew J. Holman, Matthew J. Payne, Wesley Fraser, Pedro Lacerda, Michele T. Bannister, Michael Lackner, Ying-Tung Chen, Hsing Wen Lin, Kenneth W. Smith, Rositako Kotanekova, David Young, K. Chambers, S. Chastel, L. Denneau, A. Fitzsimmons, H. Flewelling, Tommy Grav, M. Huber, Nick Induni, Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, Alex Krolewski, R. Jedicke, N. Kaiser, E. Lilly, E. Magnier, Zachary Mark, K. J. Meech, M.micheli, Daniel Murray, Alex Parker, Pavlos Protopapas, Darin Ragozzine, Peter Veres, R. Wainscoat, C. Waters, R. Weryk
(Submitted on 15 Sep 2017)

We report the discovery of a Hr=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 2005–2016 provide an exceptionally well-determined orbit for 2010 JO179, with a semi-major axis of 78.307±0.009 au, distant orbits known to this precision are rare. We find that 2010 JO179 librates securely within the 21:5 mean-motion resonance with Neptune on hundred-megayear time scales, joining the small but growing set of known distant dwarf planets on metastable resonant orbits. These imply a substantial trans-Neptunian population that shifts between stability in high-order resonances, the detached population, and the eroding population of the scattering disk.

Subjects:    Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as:    arXiv:1709.05427 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:1709.05427v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
Submission history
From: Matthew Payne 
[v1] Fri, 15 Sep 2017 22:10:46 GMT (2569kb,D)
https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.05427