Extreme and Extremely Tilted Kuiper Belt Object

This video shows an artistic rendering of the strange contact-binary Kuiper belt object 2001QG298 as seen from earth between 2003 and 2020. It shows how the observing angle and the lightcurve change as the object moves in its orbit along the sun. The black line on the surface of 2001QG298 marks its equator. 2001QG298 is a contact binary which was first identified between 2003 and 2004 by Scott Sheppard and David Jewitt. Its extreme shape was inferred from the large brightness oscilations (larger than 1.1 magnitudes, equivalent to a brightness variation of 3 to 1) produced as the object spins. The lightcurve (brightness variation with rotation) observed in 2003/2004 is shown in red. In 2010 the object was re-observed by Pedro Lacerda who found that the variation had decreased. The 2010 lightcurve is shown as white circles. The two sets of data imply that 2001QG298 is tilted by almost 90 degrees with respect to the plane of its orbit, as shown by the model on the left. The lightcurve produced by the model is shown as a yellow line overplotted on the red and white data points. The model lightcurve varies with time as the object moves along its orbit around the sun. The black line on the surface of 2001QG298 marks the equator and the orbital plane is considered to be horizontal. More information on this object can be found here: http://goo.gl/3Ygqi

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• solar system
• space
• kuiper belt

[toledomarcos70]

What are you expecting Space Ranger or Outlaw Star this makes a logical shape for a star ship along with a sphere shape so don't knock it's shape.

[Binky40SW]

PEANUTS... IN... SPAAAAAACE!

Seriously, it looks a lot like a peanut. Now I'm thirsty for a beer.

[ISamuelII]

Stop it with the "artist rendering of" nonsense.

[RandallJJacques]

This reminds me of the novel Rocheworld

[somejackball]

that's a spacecraft