Animations & Images

The animation presents the orbital path of 2008 KV42 in comparison to Neptune, Pluto, and four Kuiper belt objects that are on nearly circular low-inclination orbits (like the majority of the known transneptunian objects). The camera begins looking 'down on the Solar System'.

2008 KV42's orbit is not too far from perpendicular to the main plane of the Solar System and its orbit appears nearly edge on in the initial view. The camera then pans down to about 17 degrees above the plane of the Solar System, close to Pluto's orbital inclination; at this point the camera rotates a quarter turn.

We then rotate down into Neptune's plane (viewing the Solar System 'edge on' and rotate another half turn. This three-dimensional perspective allows one to see how tilted the orbit of 2008 KV42 is.

orbit_motion.mov (filesize: 2.9 MB)

This animation presents the same objects as the previous one but now we see the progression of the orbits through time. The viewing angle is fixed through the sequence with the viewer look down from the North pole of the solar system. Notice that 2008 KV42 is going BACKWARDS around the Sun compared to all the other objects.

2008kv42.gif (filesize: 135 KB)

A visible light image, acquired by the GEMINI South telescope, showing the location of 2008 KV42. This image shows the object as a `point source’ of light. 2008 KV42 is currently nearly 4.5 Billion kilometers from Earth and only a few 100 km in diameter: from this distance, all we see is a point of light shining back at us.

KV42_and_Friends.pdf(filesize: )

A near edge-on view of the solar ecliptic plane viewed from about 100 AU distance. This figure shows the orbits of Netpune (diameter 30AU), Pluto, 2008 KV42 and 4 other ‘classical’ KBOs. Demonstrates the inclined nature of 2008 KV42’s orbit, when compared to other objects in the outer solar system.

Back to the Press Release Page....