MPC designation 88611 Teharonhiawako Minor planet category cubewano Discovered 20 August 2001 Argument of perihelion 236.43° | Discovery date 20 August 2001 Alternative names 2001 QT297 Orbital period 291 years Inclination 2.5834° Orbits Sun | |
Pronunciation Mohawk: [dɛhaɺũhjáːɰaɡo] Similar 66652 Borasisi, 38083 Rhadamanthus, 58534 Logos, (15788) 1993 SB, 53311 Deucalion | ||
88611 Teharonhiawako is a trans-Neptunian object and a member of the Kuiper belt, measuring about 220 km in diameter. It is a binary object, with a large companion named Sawiskera (pronounced [zaɰískɛɺa] in Mohawk, formally designed (88611) Teharonhiawako I Sawiskera), which at 126 km in diameter is about two-thirds the size of its primary.
Teharonhiawako was discovered on August 20, 2001, by the Deep Ecliptic Survey, and Sawiskera was identified a month later. The primary is named after Teharonhia:wako, a god of maize in the Iroquois creation myth, while the secondary is named after his evil twin brother Sawiskera. The objects were named in 2007.
Sawiskera's orbit has the following parameters: semi-major-axis—27670 ± 120 km, period—828.76 ± 0.22 days, eccentricity—0.2494 ± 0.0021 and inclination—144.42 ± 0.35°(retrograde). The total system mass is about 2.4 × 1018 kg.