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kuiper object

Quaoar

A large classical Kuiper belt object with a distant ring.

Quaoar is a rounded trans-Neptunian world with a moon and an unexpectedly distant ring.

Orbit representation
verified fallback
Surface
procedural reconstruction

Reference measurements

The numbers that shape this world

Mean radius
555 km
Semi-major axis
43.69 AU
Orbital period
288.784 Earth yearsKeplerian estimate from the catalogued semi-major axis.
Eccentricity
0.039
Inclination
7.99°
Visual geometry
sphere

Orbital character

A measured small-body path in the shared reference frame

Quaoar follows a catalogued path with a 43.69 AU semi-major axis, eccentricity 0.039, and 7.99° inclination. The resulting two-body period estimate is 288.784 Earth years; the representation notes below state the source epoch and precision boundary used by Explore.

Catalogue context

Quaoar among its nearest Helios peers

Quaoar is linked with Pluto, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Sedna, Orcus inside the Helios outer-system selection. The grouping keeps adjacent reading coherent; it does not imply that these bodies share the same composition, origin, or present physical state.

Representation notes

What Explore is showing

A bundled frozen six-element preview preserves the documented body scope. It was not freshly re-fetched from SBDB in this build environment and must not be presented as an accurate or current ephemeris.

Reference-guided visual reconstruction based on cited mission records; no source raster is reproduced.

Provenance

Sources and related destinations