1 day / second

0.5 AU

20000 Varuna

Trans-Neptunian Object

A large, rapidly rotating Kuiper Belt object that spins so quickly it has become elongated into an ellipsoid shape roughly 1,000 kilometers in length.

Key Facts

orbital regime

Kuiper Belt

learn more

Wikipedia

mass

3.7633e+20 kg

radius

330 km

hill radius

0.016 AU

semi-major axis

42.718 AU

eccentricity

0.056

inclination

17.221º

longitude of the ascending node

97.372º

argument of periapsis

262.22º

orbital period

279.2 years

sidereal rotation period

6.344 hours

axial tilt

surface gravity

0.024 g

class

cubewano

discovery date

2000

discovered by

Robert McMillan at Kitt Peak National Observatory

name origins

Named after Varuna, a Hindu deity associated with water and the cosmos

material composition

Likely composed of water ice and rock

density

1.0 g/cm³

albedo

0.07
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