| Discovery date 26 July 2003 Observation arc 9205 days (25.20 yr) Discovered 26 July 2003 Argument of perihelion 67.082° Discovery site Palomar Observatory | MPC designation (120178) 2003 OP32 Aphelion 47.620 AU (7.1239 Tm) Inclination 27.219° Asteroid family Haumea family | |
| Discovered by M. E. Brown, C. Trujillo, D. Rabinowitz Minor planet category Cubewano (MPC)Extended (DES) Discoverers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, David L. Rabinowitz Similar (119951) 2002 KX14, (84922) 2003 VS2, 2008 ST291, (229762) 2007 UK126, 38083 Rhadamanthus | ||
(120178) 2003 OP32, also written as (120178) 2003 OP32, is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) that resides in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on July 26, 2003 by Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo and David L. Rabinowitz at Palomar Mountain in California.
Origin
Based on their common pattern of infrared water-ice absorption and the clustering of their orbital elements, the other KBOs 1995 SM55, (19308) 1996 TO66, (55636) 2002 TX300 and (145453) 2005 RR43, among others, appear to be collisional fragments broken off the dwarf planet Haumea. The neutral color of the spectrum of these objects in the visible range evidences a lack of complex organics on the surface of these bodies that has been studied in detail for the surface of Haumea.
References
(120178) 2003 OP32 Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA