(307261) 2002 MS4

Template: Infobox Asteroid / Maintenance / Error 2

(307261) 2002 MS4 is a great transneptunisches object in the Kuiper Belt, which is classified as an object of extended Scattered disk or as Cubewano. Because of its size it is a dwarf planet candidate.

Discovery and designation

(307261) 2002 MS4 was discovered on 18 June 2002 by a team of astronomers from the California Institute of Technology consisting of Michael E. Brown and Chad Trujillo at Palomar Observatory in Pasadena.

On 16 December 2011, the property was given a minor planet number after he identified on older photos of June 1992, July and June 1983, August 1982, April 1955 and April 1954, its orbit could thus be determined more accurately.

Web properties

Orbit

2002 MS4 orbits the sun on a prograde, 17 °, 7 relative to the ecliptic inclined slightly elliptical orbit with a perihelion of about 35 AU and an aphelion of nearly 48 AE. The orbital eccentricity is accordingly 0.15, its orbital period of around 270 years. The perihelion is about the year 2122 reach the object the next time.

Physical Properties

Studies with the Spitzer Space Telescope yielded an estimate of the albedo of the object of 0.08, which would lead to a diameter of about 700 km, while the albedo was estimated using the Herschel space telescope at 0.05, and the diameter to over 900 kilometers. The object is thus one of the larger of the solar system and is a candidate for classification as a dwarf planet.

Left

• Precovery photos from 2002 MS4
• 2002 MS4 TNO list of the Minor Planet Center
• How many dwarf planets are there in the outer solar system? Current list of the largest TNO by Mike Brown

• Kuiper belt asteroid