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.
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, 20000 Varuna is referenced by 89 other articles, and connects out to apsis, semi-axis and organic compound.
It sits within the topics Astronomical objects discovered in 2000, Classical Kuiper belt objects and Discoveries by the Spacewatch project.
Its subject is documented across 54 Wikipedia language editions.
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 900.0
- Orbital period
- 103632.4453155141
- Image
- 20000-varuna hst.jpg
Show 16 more facts
- longitude of ascending node
- 97.21030234100793
- Commons category
- 20000 Varuna
- 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
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
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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.