28978 Ixion facts for kids
 |
|
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Deep Ecliptic Survey |
| Discovery date | 22 May, 2001 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | 28978 Ixion |
| 2001 KX76 | |
| TNO (plutino) | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 31 December, 2006 (JD 2 454 100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 7 370.503 Gm (49.269 AU) |
| Perihelion | 4 501.495 Gm (30.091 AU) |
| 5 935.999 Gm (39.680 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.242 |
| 91 295.847 d (249.95 a) | |
|
Average orbital speed
|
4.66 km/s |
| 268.546° | |
| Inclination | 19.584° |
| 71.028° | |
| 298.779° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | ~650+260−220 < 822 km diameter |
| < 2.24×106 km² | |
| Volume | < 3.15×108 km³ |
| Mass | ≈3×1020? kg |
|
Mean density
|
2.0? g/cm³ |
| < 0.229 7? m/s² | |
| < 0.434 6? km/s | |
| ? d | |
| Albedo | 0.15-0.37 |
| Temperature | ≈44 K |
|
Spectral type
|
(moderately red; B-V=1.03, V-R=0.61) |
| 19.6 (opposition) | |
| 3.2 | |
28978 Ixion is a Kuiper belt object that was found on 22 May, 2001. Ixion is a plutino (an object that has a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune) and could be a dwarf planet. Astronomers think that it has a diameter of about 800 km, which makes it the third biggest plutino. It is named after Ixion, a figure from Greek mythology. Before it was named Ixion, it had the provisional designation 2001 KX76.
| The Solar System | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||
| Sun • Heliosphere |
Planets ☾ = moon(s) ∅ = rings |
Mercury | Venus | Earth ☾ | Mars ☾ | ||
| Jupiter ☾ ∅ | Saturn ☾ ∅ | Uranus ☾ ∅ | Neptune ☾ ∅ | ||||
| Dwarf planets | Ceres | Pluto ☾ | Haumea ☾ | Makemake | |||
| Eris ☾ | |||||||
| Small Solar System bodies |
Asteroids (minor planets) |
Groups and families: Vulcanoids · Near-Earth asteroids · Asteroid belt Jupiter Trojans · Centaurs · Neptune Trojans · Asteroid moons · Meteoroids · Pallas · Juno · Vesta · Hygiea · Interamnia · Europa |
|||||
| See also the list of asteroids. | |||||||
| Trans- Neptunians |
Kuiper belt – Plutinos: Orcus · Ixion – Cubewanos: Varuna · Quaoar · Huya |
||||||
| Scattered disc: Sedna | |||||||
| Comets | Periodic comets and non-periodic comets Damocloids · Oort cloud |
||||||
| See also the list of solar system objects | |||||||
Images for kids
-
Ixion was discovered with the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Observatory
-
Ixion imaged by the MPG/ESO telescope's Wide Field Imager at the La Silla Observatory in 2001
-
Different diameters for Ixion depending on its albedo
See also
In Spanish: (28978) Ixion para niños
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
28978 Ixion Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.