2012 VP113
is a trans-Neptunian object orbiting the Sun on an extremely wide elliptical orbit. It is classified as a sednoid because its orbit never comes closer than from the Sun, which is far enough away from the giant planets that their gravitational influence cannot affect the object's orbit noticeably. It was discovered on 5 November 2012 at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, by American astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo, who nicknamed the object "Biden" because of its "VP" abbreviation. The discovery was announced on 26 March 2014. The object's size has not been measured, but its brightness suggests it is around in diameter. has a reddish color similar to many other TNOs.
has not yet been imaged by high-resolution telescopes, so it has no known moons. The Hubble Space Telescope is planned to image in 2026, which should determine if it has significantly sized moons.
History
Discovery
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, was only tracked by Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and Las Campanas Observatory.
had previously been observed as early as September 2007.
Nickname
was abbreviated "VP" and nicknamed "Biden" by the discovery team, after Joe Biden who was then the vice president of the United States in 2012.Physical characteristics
It has an absolute magnitude of 4.0, which means it may be large enough to be a dwarf planet. The diameter and geometric albedo of has not been measured. If has a moderate geometric albedo of 15%, its diameter would be around. A wider range of albedos gives a possible diameter range of. 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
has the farthest perihelion of all known minor planets and all known objects in the Solar System, greater than 's. Though its perihelion is farther, has an aphelion only about half of Sedna's. It is the second discovered sednoid, with a semi-major axis beyond and a perihelion greater than. The similarity of the orbit of 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 appears not to be an observational artifact.
It 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 and perihelia greater than Neptune's have arguments of perihelion clustered near. This could indicate a similar formation mechanism for these bodies. was the first such object discovered.
It is currently unknown how 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. could even be captured from another planetary system. However, it is considered more likely that the perihelion of was raised by multiple interactions within the crowded confines of the open star cluster in which the Sun formed.