Discovery date 9 September 2005 Observation arc 14301 days (39.15 yr) Discovered 9 September 2005 Argument of perihelion 279.66° Discoverer Jeremy M. Kubica | MPC designation (145453) 2005 RR43 Aphelion 49.050 AU (7.3378 Tm) Inclination 28.506° Mean anomaly 43.576° | |
 | ||
Discovered by A. C. BeckerA. W. PuckettJ. M. Kubica Minor planet category cubewanoextended (DES) | ||
(145453) 2005 RR43, also written as (145453) 2005 RR43, is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) estimated to be about 250 km in diameter. It was discovered on 9 September 2005 by Andrew Becker, Andrew Puckett and Jeremy Kubica at Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico. It is possibly a dwarf planet.
Contents
Origin
Based on their common pattern of IR water-ice absorptions, neutral visible spectrum, and the clustering of their orbital elements, the other KBOs 1995 SM55, (19308) 1996 TO66, (55636) 2002 TX300 and (120178) 2003 OP32 appear to be collisional fragments broken off the dwarf planet Haumea.
Surface
The surface is covered by water ice as attested by deep absorption at 1.5 and 2 μm in the infrared spectrum and neutral (i.e. non-red) colour. Scattering models reveal that the observed water ice is, at least in a significant fraction, crystalline and organics, detected on the surface of many TNOs, are completely absent. These physical and orbital characteristics common with Haumea led to suggestion that 2005 RR43 is a member of the Haumea collisional family. The object, together with other members of the family ((19308) 1996 TO66, (24835) 1995 SM55, (55636) 2002 TX300 and (120178) 2003 OP32), would be created from ice mantle ejected from the proto-Haumea as result of a collision with another large (around 1,660 kilometres (1,030 mi)) body.