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These Solar System minor planets are the furthest from the Sun as of December 2021. The objects have been categorized by their approximate current distance from the Sun, and not by the calculated aphelion of their orbit. The list changes over time because the objects are moving in their orbits. Some objects are inbound and some are outbound.
Objects move fastest at perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) and slowest at aphelion (furthest distance from the Sun). Since planets in the Solar System are in nearly circular orbits their individual orbital velocities do not vary much. Being closest to the Sun and having the most eccentric orbit, Mercury's orbital speed varies from about ...
Most minor planets have rotation periods between 2 and 20 hours. [1] [3] As of 2019, a group of approximately 650 bodies, typically measuring 1–20 kilometers in diameter, have periods of more than 100 hours or 4 1 ⁄ 6 days. Among the slowest rotators, there are currently 15 bodies with a period longer than 1000 hours. [1]
Orbits around the L 1 point are used by spacecraft that want a constant view of the Sun, such as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. Orbits around L 2 are used by missions that always want both Earth and the Sun behind them. This enables a single shield to block radiation from both Earth and the Sun, allowing passive cooling of sensitive ...
Thus, the Sun occupies 0.00001% (1 part in 10 7) of the volume of a sphere with a radius the size of Earth's orbit, whereas Earth's volume is roughly 1 millionth (10 −6) that of the Sun. Jupiter, the largest planet, is 5.2 AU from the Sun and has a radius of 71,000 km (0.00047 AU; 44,000 mi), whereas the most distant planet, Neptune, is 30 AU ...
[1] [2] The planet orbits the Sun in 687 days [3] and travels 9.55 AU in doing so, [4] making the average orbital speed 24 km/s. The eccentricity is greater than that of every other planet except Mercury, and this causes a large difference between the aphelion and perihelion distances—they are respectively 1.666 and 1.381 AU. [5]
a dwarf planet, a scattered disc object, and currently the most massive known trans-Neptunian object. It has one known satellite, Dysnomia (612911) 2004 XR 190 "Buffy" a scattered disc object following a highly inclined but nearly circular orbit 225088 Gonggong: a dwarf planet and the second-largest discovered scattered-disc object.
(162058) 1997 AE 12 is a stony, sub-kilometer asteroid and likely the slowest rotator known to exist. It is classified as near-Earth object of the Amor group and measures approximately 800 meters in diameter. The asteroid was discovered on 10 January 1997 by the Spacewatch survey at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona [2]