28978 Ixion

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28978 Ixion

28978 Ixion ( , sometimes erroneously , or as in , ) is a Kuiper belt

Kuiper belt

The Kuiper belt , sometimes called the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 55 Astronomical unit from the Sun....
object discovered on May 22, 2001. Ixion is a plutino

Plutino

In astronomy, a plutino is a trans-Neptunian object in 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune . For every 2 orbits that a Plutino makes, Neptune orbits 3 times....
(an object that has a 2:3 orbital resonance

Orbital resonance

In celestial mechanics, an orbital resonance occurs when two orbiting bodies exert a regular, periodic gravitational influence on each other, usually due to their orbital periods being related by a ratio of two small integers....
with Neptune) and a potential dwarf planet; its estimated diameter

Diameter

In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle....
of 800 km makes it the third largest plutino. It is named after Ixion

Ixion

In Greek mythology, Ixion was king of the Lapiths, the most ancient tribe of Thessaly, and a son of Ares or Antion or the notorious evildoer Phlegyas, whose name connotes "fiery"....
, a figure from Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
; it previously had the provisional designation .

n is moderately red (slightly redder than 50000 Quaoar

50000 Quaoar

50000 Quaoar is a Trans-Neptunian object and potential dwarf planet orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on June 4, 2002 by astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael E....
) and it has a higher albedo

Albedo

The albedo of an object is the extent to which it diffusely reflects light from the Sun. It is therefore a more specific form of the term reflectivity....
(0.15) than the mid-sized red cubewano

Cubewano

In astronomy a classical Kuiper Belt object, also called a cubewano , is a Kuiper belt object that orbits beyond Neptune and is not controlled by an orbital resonance with the giant planet....
s.

The latest spectroscopic results indicate that Ixion's surface is a mixture of dark carbon

Carbon

Carbon is a chemical element with chemical symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalence?making four electrons available to form covalent bond chemical bonds....
and tholin

Tholin

Tholin , is a heteropolymer molecule formed by solar ultraviolet irradiation of simple organic compounds such as methane or ethane. Tholins do not form naturally on modern-day Earth, but are found in great abundance on the surface of icy bodies in the outer solar system....
, which is a heteropolymer formed by irradiation of clathrates of water

Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
and organic compound

Organic compound

An organic compound is any member of a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of compounds such as carbonates, simple oxides of carbon and cyanides, as well as the allotropes of carbon, are considered Inorganic compound....
s (see TNO spectra

Trans-Neptunian object

A trans-Neptunian object is any object in the solar system that orbits the sun at a greater distance on average than Neptune . The Kuiper belt, scattered disk, and Oort cloud are three divisions of this volume of space....
).

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Encyclopedia

28978 Ixion ( , sometimes erroneously , or as in , ) is a Kuiper belt

Kuiper belt

Plutino

Orbital resonance

Diameter

Ixion

Greek mythology

Physical characteristics

Ixion is moderately red (slightly redder than 50000 Quaoar

50000 Quaoar

Albedo

The albedo of an object is the extent to which it diffusely reflects light from the Sun. It is therefore a more specific form of the term reflectivity....
(0.15) than the mid-sized red cubewano

Cubewano

Carbon

Tholin

Water

Organic compound

Trans-Neptunian object

20000 Varuna

'20000 Varuna' is a large Classical Kuiper belt object Kuiper Belt object and a Plutoid candidate. It previously had the provisional designation and has been precovery in plates dating back to 1953....
, Ixion does not show greater reflectivity

Reflectivity

In photometry and heat transfer, reflectivity is the fraction of incident radiation Reflection by a surface. In general it must be treated as a directional property that is a function of the reflected direction, the incident direction, and the incident wavelength....
for longer waves

Wavelength

In physics, wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a propagating wave of a given frequency. It is commonly designated by the Greek language letter lambda ....
(the so-called red slope

Spectral slope

In astrophysics and planetary science, spectral slope is a measure of dependence of the reflectance on the wavelength.In digital signal processing, it is a measure of how quickly the spectrum of an audio sound tails off towards the high frequencies, calculated using a linear regression....
) in infrared

Infrared

Infrared radiation is electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is longer than that of visible light , but shorter than that of terahertz radiation and microwaves ....
.

Other than Pluto

Pluto

Pluto , Minor planet names Pluto, is the second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-largest body observed directly orbiting the Sun....
, Ixion was the first TNO discovered that was originally estimated to be larger than asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun, smaller than planets but larger than meteoroids....
Ceres. But more recent estimates suggest that Ixion has a high albedo and is smaller than Ceres. It is more likely that 20000 Varuna

20000 Varuna

50000 Quaoar

Very Large Telescope

The Very Large Telescope is a system of four separate optical telescopes organized in an array formation, built and operated by the European Southern Observatory at the Paranal Observatory on Cerro Paranal, a 2,635 m high mountain in the Atacama desert in northern Chile....
(VLT) has checked Ixion for cometary activity, but did not detect a coma

Coma (cometary)

In astronomy, a coma is the nebulous envelope around the Comet nucleus of a comet. It is formed when the comet passes close to the Sun on its highly ellipse orbit; as the comet warms, parts of it Sublimation_%28chemistry%29....
.

Orbit

Ixion and Pluto follow similar but differently oriented orbits: Ixion’s perihelion is below the ecliptic

Ecliptic

The ecliptic is the apparent path that the Sun traces out in the sky during the year. As it appears to move in the sky in relation to the stars, the apparent path aligns with the planets throughout the course of the year....
whereas Pluto's is above it. Uncharacteristically for bodies locked in resonance with Neptune (such as Orcus

90482 Orcus

90482 Orcus is a Kuiper Belt object and a likely dwarf planet that was discovered by Michael E. Brown of California Institute of Technology, Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory, and David L....
), Ixion approaches Pluto with less than 20 degrees of angular separation. Ixion is currently crossing the ecliptic heading below, and will reach its perihelion in 2070. Pluto has passed its perihelion (1989) and is descending toward the ecliptic. Ixion's orbital period is almost 250 Earth years, about 0.5% larger than Pluto's.

External links

orbital elements
from JPL (Java) /

28978 Ixion

Physical characteristics

Orbit

See also

External links