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Quaoar
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Number
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50000
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Provisional name
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2002 LM60
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Class
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Cubewano
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Discovery date
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04.06.2002
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Discovery chart
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Discovery position
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10° Sagittarius 10' Rx
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Time of announcement
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07.10.2002 - 3:23 UT
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Orbital period
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288.0 years
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Orbit
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Aphelion
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45.116 AU
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Perihelion
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41.697 AU
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Semimajor axis
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43.407 AU
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Magnitude
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2.5
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Diameter
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about 900 km |
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Cryovolcanism may be occurring on Quaoar. A cryovolcano is an icy volcano. With a density estimated to be around 4.2 ± 1.3 g/cm³, Quaoar is believed to be a mixture of mostly rock with some ice and is possibly the densest known object in the Kuiper belt. |
 Digital photo by Eric Francis. Planet Waves Picture Galleries |
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Satellite
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Quaoar has one known satellite, Weywot. It was discovered using Hubble Space Telescope observations from 14 February 2006. The discovery was reported on 22 February 2007. The name was chosen by the Native American Tongva tribe and published on October 4, 2009. MPC 67220 |
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Mythology
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Quaoar is the creation deity of the Native American Tongva people. Quaoar sings and dances the world and other deities into existence.
The sky god Weywot, son of Quaoar, was first to be formed of the creation melody. Quaoar |
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