Hubble image archive
Artist's View of Kuiper Belt Object "Quaoar"
This is an artist's impression of the icy Kuiper belt object 2002 LM60, dubbed "Quaoar" by its discoverers. With the help of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have determined that Quaoar (pronounced kwa-whar) is the largest body found in the solar system since the discov...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2002
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2002-17-1220-image
This is an artist's impression of the icy Kuiper belt object 2002 LM60, dubbed "Quaoar" by its discoverers. With the help of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have determined that Quaoar (pronounced kwa-whar) is the largest body found in the solar system since the discovery of Pluto 72 years ago. Quaoar is about 800 miles (1300 kilometers) in diameter and is about half the size of Pluto. Like Pluto, Quaoar dwells in the Kuiper belt, an icy debris field of comet-like bodies extending 7 billion miles beyond Neptune's orbit. Quaoar is the farthest object in the solar system ever to be resolved by a telescope. It is about 4 billion miles (6.5 billion kilometers) from Earth, more than 1 billion miles farther than Pluto.
Credits
Illustration Credit: NASA and G. Bacon (STScI);Science Credit: NASA and M. Brown (Caltech)
Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | 2002 LM60, Quaoar |
| Object Description | Kuiper Belt Object |
| R.A. Position | 16h 36m 18s |
| Dec. Position | -14° 48' 0" |
| Constellation | Ophiuchus |
| Distance | About 43 astronomical units (about 4 billion miles or 6.5 billion kilometers) |
| Dimensions | Approximately 800 miles in diameter (about 1300 kilometers) |
Downloads
Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov