These two images, taken a year apart, reveal a moon orbiting the dwarf planet 2007 OR10. Each image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, shows the companion in a different orbital position around its parent body.
2007 OR10 is the third-largest known dwarf planet, behind Pluto and Eris, and the largest unnamed world in the solar system. The pair is located in the Kuiper Belt, a realm of icy debris left over from the solar system's formation.
The dwarf planet is about 950 miles across; the moon is estimated to be 150 miles to 250 miles in diameter. 2007 OR10, like Pluto, follows an eccentric orbit, but it is currently three times farther than Pluto is from the sun.
Credits
NASA, ESA, C. Kiss (Konkoly Observatory), and J. Stansberry (STScI)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | 2007 OR10 |
| Object Description | Trans-Neptunian Dwarf Planet |
| Distance | 2007 OR10 is approximately 87 AU from the sun. |
| Dimensions | 2007 OR10 is approximately 954 miles (1,535 kilometers) in diameter. The companion is approximately 147 miles (237 kilometers) in diameter. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | HST data from proposals , M. Brown (Caltech) and , W. Fraser (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics) were used in the analysis. |
| Instrument | HST WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | Nov. 6, 2009, Sep. 18, 2010 |
| Filters | WFC3/UVIS F606W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images were taken with HST's WFC3/UVIS instrument using the F606W (477.3 nm) filter. Color was added to the grayscale images using a blue color mapping. |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
