Vanth
Sign in to saveAlso known as (90482) Orcus I Vanth, Orcus I, S/2005 (90482) 1
natural satellite orbiting 90482 Orcus
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Michael E. Brown Terry-Ann Suer
- Discovery date
- 13 November 2005
- Designation
- (90482) Orcus I
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ v æ n θ /
- Named after
- Vanth
- Adjectives
- Vanthian
- Semi major axis
- 8 999 .8 ± 9.1 km
- Eccentricity
- 0.000 91 ± 0.000 53
- Orbital period sidereal
- 9.539 154 ± 0.000 020 d
- Inclination
- 105.03 ° ± 0.18 ° (to celestial equator ), 90.54° ± 0.17° (to ecliptic )
- Longitude of ascending node
- 53.49° ± 0.33°
- Argument of periapsis
- 274.51°
- Satellite of
- Orcus
- Mean diameter
- 442.5 ± 10.2 km ( occultation ) , 475 ± 75 km ( thermal )
- Mass
- (8.7 ± 0.8) × 10 kg
- Mean density
- ≈1.9 ± 0.3 g/cm (occultation) , 1.5 +1.0, −0.5 g/cm (thermal)
- Synodic rotation period
- synchronous
- Albedo
- 0.08 ± 0.02
via Wikipedia infobox
~14 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Vanth (formal designation (90482) Orcus I) is the only known moon of the large trans-Neptunian dwarf planet Orcus. It was discovered by Michael Brown and Terry-Ann Suer using images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on 13 November 2005. The moon has a diameter of 443 km (275 mi), making it about half the size of Orcus and the third-largest moon of a trans-Neptunian object.
Vanth is massive enough that it shifts the barycenter of the Orcus–Vanth system outside of Orcus, forming a binary system in which the two bodies revolve around the barycenter, much like the Pluto–Charon system. It is hypothesized that both systems formed similarly, most likely by a giant impact early in the Solar System's history. Compared to Orcus, Vanth has a darker and slightly redder surface that supposedly lacks exposed water ice, resembling primordial Kuiper belt objects.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Vanth” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.