2012 VP113
Sednoid
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- 3 chapters
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Through Sun, Hubble Space Telescope and Solar System
2012 VP113 has not yet been imaged by high-resolution telescopes, so it has no known moons. The Hubble Space Telescope is planned to image 2012 VP113 in 2026, which should determine if it has significantly sized moons.
History
Discovery
2012 VP113 was first reported to have been observed on 5 November 2012 with NOAO's 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Carnegie's 6.5-meter Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile was used to determine its orbit and surface properties.
Before being announced to the public, 2012 VP113 was only tracked by Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (807) and Las Campanas Observatory (304).
2012 VP113 has been found in precovery images as early as September 2007.
Nickname
2012 VP113 was abbreviated "VP" and nicknamed "Biden" by the discovery team, after Joe Biden who was then the vice president ("VP") of the United States.
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Physical characteristics
2012 VP113 has an absolute magnitude of 4.05, which means it may be large enough to be a dwarf planet. The diameter and geometric albedo of 2012 VP113 has not been measured yet. Under the assumption that 2012 VP113 has a moderate geometric albedo of 0.15 (typical of TNOs), its diameter would be around 450 km (280 mi). A wider range of albedos gives a possible diameter range of 300–1,000 km (190–620 mi). It is expected to be about half the size of Sedna and similar in size to Huya. Its surface is moderately red in color, resulting from chemical changes produced by the effect of radiation on frozen water, methane, and carbon dioxide. This optical color is consistent with formation in the gas-giant region and not the classical Kuiper belt, which is dominated by ultra-red colored objects.
Orbit and classification
2012 VP113 has the farthest perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) of all known minor planets and all known objects in the Solar System as of 2025, greater than Sedna's. Though its perihelion is farther, 2012 VP113 has an aphelion only about half of Sedna's. It is the second discovered sednoid, with a semi-major axis beyond 150 AU and a perihelion greater than 50 AU. The similarity of the orbit of 2012 VP113 to other known extreme trans-Neptunian objects led Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo to suggest that an undiscovered object, Planet Nine, in the outer Solar System is shepherding these distant objects into similar type orbits.
Its last perihelion was within a couple months of September 1979. The paucity of bodies with perihelia at 50–75 AU appears not to be an observational artifact and is known as the Kuiper cliff.
2012 VP113 is possibly a member of a hypothesized Hills cloud. It has a perihelion, argument of perihelion, and current position in the sky similar to those of Sedna. In fact, all known Solar System bodies with semi-major axes over 150 AU and perihelia greater than Neptune's have arguments of perihelion clustered near 340°±55°. This could indicate a similar formation mechanism for these bodies. (148209) 2000 CR105 was the first such object to be discovered.
It is currently unknown how 2012 VP113 acquired a perihelion distance beyond the Kuiper belt. The characteristics of its orbit, like those of Sedna's, have been explained as possibly created by a passing star or a trans-Neptunian planet of several Earth masses hundreds of astronomical units from the Sun. The orbital architecture of the trans-Plutonian region may signal the presence of more than one planet. 2012 VP113 could even be captured from another planetary system. However, it is considered more likely that the perihelion of 2012 VP113 was raised by multiple interactions within the crowded confines of the open star cluster in which the Sun formed.