Discovery date 19 October 2007 Observation arc 12117 days (33.17 yr) | Minor planet category Scat-ext | |
Discovered by M. E. Schwamb
M. E. Brown
D. L. Rabinowitz MPC designation (7005229762000000000♠229762) 2007 UK126 Aphelion 109.7388 AU (16.41669 Tm) (Q) | ||
(229762) 2007 UK126, also written as (229762) 2007 UK126, is a scattered disc object (SDO) with a bright absolute magnitude of 3.7. This makes it probably a dwarf planet. As of August 2011, Mike Brown lists it as highly likely a dwarf planet. Its light-curve amplitude is estimated to be Δm=0.111 mag.
Its orbital eccentricity of 0.49 suggests that it was gravitationally scattered onto its eccentric orbit. It will come to perihelion in February 2046.
It has been observed 73 times over 11 oppositions with precovery images back to 1982.
Satellite
It has been reported that (229762) 2007 UK126 has a satellite, but a mass estimate has not been made. The magnitude difference between the primary and the satellite is 3.79 mag. The satellite has a tentative diameter of 139 km, a semi-major axis of 3600 km, and an orbital period of 3.7 d.