File:20000-varuna_hst.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
20000 Varuna is a large icy body orbiting the Sun in the distant Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune. It is scientifically important because studying objects like Varuna helps astronomers understand the composition and history of the early solar system.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- trans-Neptunian object
- Named after
- Varuna
- Followed by
- (20001) Blue Varuna
- Follows
- 19999 Depardieu
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- trans-Neptunian object
- Diameter
- 900.0
- Orbital period
- 103632.4453155141
- Image
- 20000-varuna hst.jpg
Show 19 more facts
- longitude of ascending node
- 97.21030234100793
- discoverer or inventor
- Spacewatch
- Commons category
- 20000 Varuna
- site of astronomical discovery
- Kitt Peak National Observatory
- provisional designation
- 2000 WR106
- time of discovery or invention
- 2000-11-28
- orbital inclination
- 17.13812404484431
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.05254516459334936
- color index
- 0.88
- absolute magnitude
- 3.79
- periapsis
- 40.90942694015417
- apoapsis
- 45.44704180401708
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 43.17823437208563
- mean anomaly
- 115.0289798413239
- argument of periapsis
- 273.2206220996139
- albedo
- 0.07
- rotation period
- 6.3436
- time of periapsis
- 2427887.3487135964
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (3)
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Encyclopedic overview
20000 Varuna (provisional designation 2000 WR106) is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered in November 2000 by American astronomer Robert McMillan during a Spacewatch survey at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. It is named after the Hindu deity Varuna, one of the oldest deities mentioned in the Vedic texts.
Varuna's light curve is compatible with the body being a Jacobi ellipsoid, suggesting that it has an elongated shape due to its rapid rotation. Varuna's surface is moderately red in color due to the presence of complex organic compounds on its surface. Water ice is also present on its surface, and is thought to have been exposed by past collisions which may have also caused Varuna's rapid rotation. Although no natural satellites have been found or directly imaged around Varuna, analysis of variations in its light curve in 2019 suggests the presence of a possible satellite orbiting closely around Varuna. Assumptions that the body is in hydrostatic equilibrium (and thus a dwarf planet) result in a calculated density too low for it to be a dwarf planet.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “20000 Varuna” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.