A dwarf planet class object in the 21:5 resonance with Neptune


Abstract in English

We report the discovery of a $H_r = 3.4pm0.1$ dwarf planet candidate by the Pan-STARRS Outer Solar System Survey. 2010 JO$_{179}$ is red with $(g-r)=0.88 pm 0.21$, roughly round, and slowly rotating, with a period of $30.6$ hr. Estimates of its albedo imply a diameter of 600--900~km. Observations sampling the span between 2005--2016 provide an exceptionally well-determined orbit for 2010 JO$_{179}$, with a semi-major axis of $78.307pm0.009$ au, distant orbits known to this precision are rare. We find that 2010 JO$_{179}$ librates securely within the 21:5 mean-motion resonance with Neptune on hundred-megayear time scales, joining the small but growing set of known distant dwarf planets on metastable resonant orbits. These imply a substantial trans-Neptunian population that shifts between stability in high-order resonances, the detached population, and the eroding population of the scattering disk.

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