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2012 VP113
2012 VP113
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2012 VP113
2012 VP113 imaged by the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope on 9 October 2021
Discovery[1]
Discovered by
Discovery siteCerro Tololo Obs.
Discovery date5 November 2012
Designations
2012 VP113
Biden (nickname)
Orbital characteristics (barycentric)[4]
Epoch 5 May 2025
(JD 2460800.5)
Uncertainty parameter 3[2]
Observation arc16.94 yr (6,187 d)
Earliest precovery date19 September 2007
Aphelion444.1 AU
Perihelion80.52 AU
262.3 AU
Eccentricity0.6931
4,246 yr[4]
24.05°
0° 0m 0.836s / day
Inclination24.0563°±0.006°
90.80°
≈ September 1979[5]
293.90°
Known satellites0
Physical characteristics
450 km (calc. for albedo 0.15)[6]
23.5[7]
4.05[2]

2012 VP113 is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) orbiting the Sun on an extremely wide elliptical orbit. It is classified as a sednoid because its orbit never comes closer than 80.5 AU (12.04 billion km; 7.48 billion mi) 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.[8] The discovery was announced on 26 March 2014.[6][8] The object's size has not been measured, but its brightness suggests it is around 450 km (280 mi) in diameter.[6][9] 2012 VP113 has a reddish color similar to many other TNOs.[6]

2012 VP113 has not yet been imaged by high-resolution telescopes, so it has no known moons.[10] The Hubble Space Telescope is planned to image 2012 VP113 in 2026, which should determine if it has significantly sized moons.[10]

History

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Discovery

[edit]
Discovery images of 2012 VP113 taken on 5 November 2012.

2012 VP113 was first reported to have been observed on 5 November 2012[1] with NOAO's 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.[11] Carnegie's 6.5-meter Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile was used to determine its orbit and surface properties.[11]

Before being announced to the public, 2012 VP113 was only tracked by Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (807) and Las Campanas Observatory (304).[12]

2012 VP113 had previously been observed (but not reported) as early as September 2007.[12]

Nickname

[edit]

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 in 2012.[8]

Physical characteristics

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It has an absolute magnitude of 4.0,[12] which means it may be large enough to be a dwarf planet.[13] The diameter and geometric albedo of 2012 VP113 has not been measured.[6][9] If 2012 VP113 has a moderate geometric albedo of 15% (typical of TNOs), its diameter would be around 450 km (280 mi).[6] A wider range of albedos gives a possible diameter range of 300–1,000 km (190–620 mi).[9] It is expected to be about half the size of Sedna and similar in size to Huya.[9] Its surface is moderately red in color, resulting from chemical changes produced by the effect of radiation on frozen water, methane, and carbon dioxide.[14] 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.[6]

Orbit and classification

[edit]
Orbital diagrams of 2012 VP113 with Pluto and the outer planets as of 2017

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.[15] 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.[6].

Its last perihelion was within a couple months of September 1979.[5] The paucity of bodies with perihelia at 50–75 AU appears not to be an observational artifact.[6]

It is possibly a member of a hypothesized Hills cloud.[9][11][16] It has a perihelion, argument of perihelion, and current position in the sky similar to those of Sedna.[9] 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°.[6] This could indicate a similar formation mechanism for these bodies.[6] (148209) 2000 CR105 was the first such object 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.[17] The orbital architecture of the trans-Plutonian region may signal the presence of more than one planet.[18][19] 2012 VP113 could even be captured from another planetary system.[13] 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.[9]

See also

[edit]
Other large aphelion objects

References

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
2012 VP113 is a Sedna-like (TNO) and potential candidate in the outer Solar System, distinguished by its extreme orbital isolation and distance from the Sun. Discovered on , 2012, by astronomers Chadwick A. Trujillo and Scott S. Sheppard using the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at in , it was confirmed through follow-up observations at the Magellan and Canada-France-Hawaii telescopes. With an estimated diameter of approximately 450 kilometers—assuming a typical of 15% for such objects—2012 VP113 (provisionally nicknamed "Biden" due to its designation) exhibits a moderately optical color, characterized by a slope of 13 ± 2% per 100 nanometers, indicative of irradiation-processed ices rich in complex organics. Its surface properties suggest formation in the region followed by scattering to its current distant orbit. The object's is highly eccentric and detached from planetary influences, never approaching closer than its perihelion distance of 80 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun—far beyond Neptune's orbit at 30 AU—while reaching an aphelion of about 466 AU. As of the most recent (epoch October 17, 2024), its semi-major axis measures 273.1 AU, eccentricity 0.705, and inclination 24.0° relative to the , yielding an of approximately 4,514 years. Its of H = 4.05 places it among the brighter TNOs, though its great distance (as of November 2025, around 84 AU) renders it faint, with an apparent visual magnitude of about 23.4. Unlike scattered-disk objects perturbed by , 2012 VP113's trajectory lies entirely beyond 45 AU, classifying it as a sednoid and highlighting its dynamical stability in the inner region. The discovery of 2012 VP113 alongside Sedna (perihelion 76 AU) implies a substantial population of inner objects, potentially outnumbering all other known Solar System small-body populations combined, extending from roughly 2,000 to 10,000 AU. This supports the existence of an unseen massive perturber—possibly a super-Earth-mass at hundreds of AU—to explain the clustered orbits of such extreme TNOs, a further explored in subsequent surveys by the discovery team, including the 2025 discovery of the sednoid 2023 KQ14 ("Ammonite"). Observations continue to refine its path and search for similar bodies, underscoring 2012 VP113's role in probing the Solar System's formative history and undiscovered architecture.

Discovery and Naming

Discovery Circumstances

2012 VP113 was discovered on November 5, 2012, by astronomers Scott S. Sheppard of the and Chad A. Trujillo of the , during observations at the in . The detection utilized the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the Victor M. Blanco 4 m Telescope, which provided the wide-field imaging capability necessary for spotting faint, slow-moving objects in the distant outer Solar System. This discovery formed part of a dedicated survey for trans-Neptunian objects with perihelia exceeding 30 AU, particularly targeting regions beyond 50 AU where such bodies are expected to exhibit minimal motion between exposures. The strategy involved systematic imaging of large sky areas to identify candidates with unusual orbital characteristics, building on prior searches that had revealed Sedna in 2003. Precovery identifications extended the known observational history of 2012 VP113, with the object recognized in archival images from as early as September 19, 2007, thereby lengthening the observation arc to over 16 years and refining initial orbital estimates. The object's existence was formally announced on March 26, 2014, through a publication in Nature by Trujillo and Sheppard, which emphasized its highly eccentric orbit with a perihelion of approximately 80 AU.

Informal Nickname

The informal nickname "Biden" for 2012 VP113 was coined by its discoverers, astronomers Scott Sheppard and , in reference to the "VP" in the object's provisional designation, which evokes "Vice President" and alludes to , who was the U.S. Vice President at the time of the discovery in 2012. Since its announcement in , the nickname "Biden" has been used informally in , media reports, and popular discussions to refer to the object, providing a memorable for this distant trans-Neptunian body. However, it has not been officially adopted by the (IAU), and the object retains its provisional designation of 2012 VP113 without a permanent number or name. This playful naming aligns with a tradition in astronomy of assigning informal monikers to remote Solar System objects, such as the earlier "Sedna" for another distant body that later received official naming, though 2012 VP113's extreme distance and faintness have delayed any formal naming process under IAU guidelines.

Physical Characteristics

Size and Albedo

The of 2012 VP113 has not been directly measured but is estimated from its and assumed using the standard relation for trans-Neptunian objects:
D=1329p×100.2HD = \frac{1329}{\sqrt{p}} \times 10^{-0.2 H}
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