Weywot (moon)
Encyclopedia
Weywot, officially Quaoar I Weywot, is the only known moon
of the trans-Neptunian object
Quaoar
. Its discovery was reported in IAUC 8812 on 22 February 2007, based on imagery taken on 14 February 2006. The satellite was found at 0.35 arcsec from Quaoar with an apparent magnitude
difference of 5.6. It orbits at a distance of 14,500 km from the primary and has an orbital eccentricity
of about 0.14. Assuming an equal albedo and density to the primary, the apparent magnitude suggests that the moon has a diameter of about 74 km (1:12 of Quaoar). Brown believes it is likely to be a collisional fragment of Quaoar, which he speculates lost much of its ice mantle in the process. Weywot is estimated to only have 1:2000 the mass of Quaoar.
, son of Quaoar. The name was made official in MPC #67220 published on October 4, 2009.
Natural satellite
A natural satellite or moon is a celestial body that orbits a planet or smaller body, which is called its primary. The two terms are used synonymously for non-artificial satellites of planets, of dwarf planets, and of minor planets....
of the trans-Neptunian object
Trans-Neptunian object
A trans-Neptunian object is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater distance on average than Neptune.The first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered was Pluto in 1930...
Quaoar
50000 Quaoar
50000 Quaoar is a rocky trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt with one known moon. Discovered on June 4, 2002 by astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown at the California Institute of Technology from images acquired at the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory, it is thought by...
. Its discovery was reported in IAUC 8812 on 22 February 2007, based on imagery taken on 14 February 2006. The satellite was found at 0.35 arcsec from Quaoar with an apparent magnitude
Apparent magnitude
The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
difference of 5.6. It orbits at a distance of 14,500 km from the primary and has an orbital eccentricity
Orbital eccentricity
The orbital eccentricity of an astronomical body is the amount by which its orbit deviates from a perfect circle, where 0 is perfectly circular, and 1.0 is a parabola, and no longer a closed orbit...
of about 0.14. Assuming an equal albedo and density to the primary, the apparent magnitude suggests that the moon has a diameter of about 74 km (1:12 of Quaoar). Brown believes it is likely to be a collisional fragment of Quaoar, which he speculates lost much of its ice mantle in the process. Weywot is estimated to only have 1:2000 the mass of Quaoar.
Name
Upon discovery, Weywot was issued a provisional designation, . Brown left the choice of a name up to the Tongva, who chose the sky god WeywotWeywot
Weywot is the sky god of the Tongva people, son and first creation of the creator god Quaoar. The Tongva chose the name Weywot for the moon of the likely dwarf planet , which was named after their creation god.-External links:*...
, son of Quaoar. The name was made official in MPC #67220 published on October 4, 2009.