20000 Varuna

Discovery
Discoverer	R. McMillan (Spacewatch)
Discovery Date	28 November 2000
Alternate Designations	2000 WR106
Category	Kuiper belt
Orbital Elements Epoch 14 July 2004 (JD 2453200.5)
Eccentricity (e)	0.051
Semi-Major Axis (a)	6451.398 Gm (43.129 AU)
Perihelion (q)	6120.810 Gm (40.915 AU)
Aphelion (Q)	6781.985 Gm (45.335 AU)
Orbital Period (P)	103440.6 days (283.20 years)
Mean Orbital Speed	4.53 km/s
Inclination (i)	17.2°
Longitude of the Ascending Node (Ω)	97.296°
Argument of Perihelion (ω)	271.631°
Mean Anomaly (M)	89.673°
Physical Characteristics
Dimensions	530 +90 −110 km radius
Mass	~5.9 × 1020 kg
Density	~1 g/cm³
Surface Gravity	0.15 m/s²
Escape Velocity	0.39 km/s
Rotation Period	0.26432 days (3.17 hours)
Spectral Class
Absolute Magnitude	3.7
Albedo	0.038 +0.022 −0.010
Mean Surface Temperature	~59 K

20000 Varuna ("VAR oo na") is a Kuiper Belt object about 1060 kilometers in diameter, estimated from a combination of thermal and optical measurements.

Little is known about Varuna. It has a rotational period of approximately 3.17 hours (or 6.34 hours, depending on whether the light curve is single or double-peaked). It has a density of approximately 1 g/cm³ (as dense as water), which implies that it may not be a fully solid body [1] (http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jewitt/papers/VARUNA2/JS2002.pdf).

It is named after the Hindu god Varuna. It previously had the provisional designation 2000 WR₁₀₆.

External links

• http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/varuna.html

de:Varuna (Asteroid) fr:20000 Varuna nl:Varuna (planetoïde) sl:20000 Varuna