Discovery site La Silla Obs. MPC designation (445473) 2010 VZ98 Minor planet category TNO · SDO | Discovery date 11 November 2010 Alternative names 2010 VZ98 | |
Discovered by D. L. RabinowitzM. E. SchwambS. Tourtellotte | ||
(445473) 2010 VZ98 is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) orbiting the Sun in the scattered disc. It was discovered on 11 November 2010, by American astronomers David L. Rabinowitz, Megan E. Schwamb and Suzanne W. Tourtellotte at La Silla in northern Chile, when it was 38 AU from the Sun. With an absolute magnitude of approximately 5.0 and a calculated diameter above 400 kilometers, it is possibly a dwarf planet.
The carbonaceous TNO orbits the Sun at a distance of 34.3–267.8 AU once every 1856 years and 8 months (678,136 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.77 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. Small number statistics suggest that this body may be trapped in a 3:2 orbital resonance with an unseen planet beyond Neptune with a semi-major axis of 195–215 AU. The first precovery was taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at the Apache Point Observatory in 1998, extending the body's observation arc by 12 years prior to its discovery. The precoveries were found in May 2015 (MPS 604632).
Published in 2013, a rotational light-curve was obtained for this object from photometric observation by members of the Carnegie Institution for Science at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. The light-curve gave a rotation period of 7000972000000000000♠9.72±0.05 hours with a brightness variation of 0.18 magnitude (U=n.a.). While American astronomer Michael E. Brown assumes a diameter of 461 kilometers and an albedo of 0.07, the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.10 and calculates a diameter of 401 kilometers.