Discovery date 30 August 1992 Orbital period 290 years Inclination 2.19059° Discovery site Mauna Kea Observatories | Observation arc 7707 days (21.10 yr) Discovered 30 August 1992 Orbits Sun Discoverers Jane Luu, David C. Jewitt | |
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Discovered by David C. Jewitt,
Jane X. Luu Minor planet category Trans-Neptunian object
(cubewano) Aphelion 46.6644 AU (6.98089 Tm) Perihelion 40.8952 AU (6.11783 Tm) Similar Solar System, Sun, (55565) 2002 AW197, 20000 Varuna, 28978 Ixion | ||
15760 1992 qb1
(15760) 1992 QB1 was the first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered after Pluto and Charon. It was discovered in 1992 by David C. Jewitt and Jane X. Luu at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii. It is a classical Kuiper belt object and gave rise to the name cubewano for this kind of object, after the "QB1" portion of its designation. Decoding its provisional designation, "QB1" reveals that it was the 27th object found in the second half of August of that year.[1] Over 1,500 further objects have been found beyond Neptune, a good number of which are classical Kuiper belt objects.
The discoverers suggested the name "Smiley" for (15760) 1992 QB1, but the name was already used for an asteroid 1613 Smiley, named after the American astronomer Charles Hugh Smiley. It has received the number 15760 and remains unnamed; it is normally referred to simply as "QB1", even though this is technically ambiguous without the year of discovery.