15760 Albion
trans-Neptunian object, prototype of cubewanos
Key facts
- Discovered by
- D. C. Jewitt , J. X. Luu
- Discovery site
- Mauna Kea Obs.
- Discovery date
- 30 August 1992
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ æ l b i ə n /
- Named after
- Albion (mythology by William Blake )
- Alternative designations
- 1992 QB 1
- Minor planet category
- TNO · cubewano (cold) , distant
- Observation arc
- 26.34 yr (9,621 days)
- Aphelion
- 47.042 AU
- Perihelion
- 40.809 AU
- Semi major axis
- 43.925 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 291.13 yr (106,334 days)
Article
15760 Albion (provisional designation 1992 QB1) was the first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered after Pluto and Charon. Measuring about 108–167 kilometres in diameter, it was discovered in 1992 by David C. Jewitt and Jane X. Luu at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii. After the discovery, they dubbed the object "Smiley" and it was shortly hailed as the tenth planet by the press. It is a "cold" classical Kuiper belt object and gave rise to the name cubewano for this kind of object, after the QB1 portion of its designation. Decoding its provisional designation, "QB1" reveals that it was the 27th object found in the second half of August of that year. As of January 2018, around 2,400 further objects have been found beyond Neptune, a majority of which are classical Kuiper belt objects. It was named after Albion from William Blake's mythology.
Naming