2021_RR205

<span class="nowrap">2021 RR<sub>205</sub></span>

2021 RR205

Extreme trans-Neptunian object

2021 RR205 is an extreme trans-Neptunian object discovered by astronomers Scott Sheppard, David Tholen, and Chad Trujillo with the Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory on 5 September 2021. It resides beyond the outer extent of the Kuiper belt on a distant and highly eccentric orbit detached from Neptune's gravitational influence, with a large perihelion distance of 55.5 astronomical units (AU).[4] Its large orbital semi-major axis (~1,000 AU) suggests it is potentially from the inner Oort cloud.[6][7] 2021 RR205 and 2013 SY99 both lie in the 50–75 AU perihelion gap that separates the detached objects from the more distant sednoids; dynamical studies indicate that such objects in the inner edge this gap weakly experience "diffusion", or inward orbital migration due to minuscule perturbations by Neptune.[6] While Sheppard considers 2021 RR205 a sednoid, researchers Yukun Huang and Brett Gladman do not.[8]

Quick Facts Discovery, Discovered by ...

2021 RR205's heliocentric distance was 60 AU when it was discovered.[2] It has been detected in precovery observations by the Dark Energy Survey at Cerro Tololo Observatory from as early as July 2017.[3] It last passed perihelion in the early 1990s and is now moving outbound from the Sun.[1]

References

  1. [1]
    "MPEC-2022-S118 : 2021 RR205". Minor Planet Electronic Circular. Minor Planet Center. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  2. [2]
    "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2021 RR205)" (2022-09-03 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  3. [3]
    "2021 RR205". Minor Planet Center. International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  4. [4]
    "JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris for 2021 RR205 at epoch JD 2460000.5". JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 21 September 2022. Solution using the Solar System Barycenter. Ephemeris Type: Elements and Center: @0)
  5. [5]
    "Asteroid Size Estimator". Center for Near Earth Object Studies. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  6. [6]
    Bannister, Michele; Shankman, Cory; Volk, Katherine (2017). "OSSOS: V. Diffusion in the orbit of a high-perihelion distant Solar System object". The Astronomical Journal. 153 (6): 262. arXiv:1704.01952. Bibcode:2017AJ....153..262B. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa6db5. S2CID 3502267.
  7. [7]
    Sheppard, Scott S. "Scott Sheppard Small Body Discoveries". Earth and Planets Laboratory. Carnegie Institution for Science. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  8. [8]
    Huang, Yukun; Gladman, Brett (February 2024). "Primordial Orbital Alignment of Sednoids". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 962 (2): 6. arXiv:2310.20614. Bibcode:2024ApJ...962L..33H. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ad2686. L33.
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