Sol

• Diameter: 1.392x10⁹ km (109 Earths) (#1)

Vulcanoid Asteroids

• Currently hypothetical
• between 0.08 and 0.21 from Sol:
• Diameter: Not more than 60 Km

Mercury

• 0.39 AU from Sol.
• Equatorial diameter: 4,879.4 km (0.3829 Earths). (#11)
• Orbit: 88 days (0.241 years)

Mercury-crosser Asteroids

• Mercury Crossers: Icarus, Phaethon, Talos.
• Outer Grazers: Adonis, Hephaistos, Hathor, Epona, Heracles, Illapa.

Venus

• 0.72 AU from Sol.
• Equatorial diameter: 6051.8 km (0.9499 Earths). (#7)
• Orbit: 224.7 days (0.615 years)

Venus-crosser Asteroids

• 2002 VE₆₈ - 234 to 518 m; quasi-satellite, this asteroid is also a Mercury- and Earth-crosser. See Venus-crosser Asteroids for more information.

Earth

• 1.0 AU from Sol
• Diameter: Equatorial 12,756.270 km, Polar 12,713.500 km, Mean 12,745.591 km. (#6)
• Orbit: 365.27 days
  
  

  Surface

  • Africa
    • Grand Cannon III (Victoria Autonomous Region) - construction began in 2004, October.
  • Eurasia
    • Central Russia Administrative Region
      • St. Petersburg [Leningrad] - the Anti-UN Army uses strategic [tactical] thermonuclear reaction weaponry and destroys the city in 2006, October.
    • Kazakh Autonomous Region - location of rioting in 2005, January.
    • Kirghiz Autonomous Regions - location of rioting in 2005, January.
    • Garalia
    • [Great Britain] - Liverpool
    • Bjorn City (Located in the Danube Area)
  • Japan
    • South Ataria Island
    • UN Far East Command Headquarters
    • Yokohama
  • North America
    • Alaska
      • (Earth) UN Military Headquarters (for anti-stellar-warfare) - Construction began in 2002, May.
      • Grand Cannon I (Same site as UN Military Headquarters) - Construction began in 2002, May with completion on 2010, January 10.
      • Macross City: reconstruction begins and is completed in 2010, May. Located near the Grand Cannon I site. By far the largest and Best city in the UN. Macross city is home to the Macross, U.N. Government and Military HQ.
      • Macross Lake
      • SDF-1 Macross
    • California (Los Cupid, Mojave Desert)
    • Gante City
    • Highlander City - Located a few hours from Macross City (by air). This city was a thriving pretty good just after the SW1 and attrached a lot of show business types.
    • Lonesco City - A city best known for being the city that Kamjin took Minmay hostage.
    • Onogi City - A major industrial city (Reaction Engines) located not far from Macross City. Onogi is on a coast and is possibly located east of Macross City.
    • Ontario
    • South Coast City - City most likely located on a southern coast line. In 2012 the City had become self-sufficient enough to leave direct U.N. control and be self-govern.
    • Trad City - Trad City is located in old America and has high Zentradi presence (50% population is Zentradi.)
  • Oceania
    • Grand Cannon II (Australian Autonomous Region) - construction began in 2004, March. The under-construction Cannon is destroyed in 2005, November during an Anti-UN Army retaliatory attack on UN Forces.
    • Mayan Island (South Pacific Ocean): site of Protoculture phenomenon and a dispute over the discovery of it, which resulted in the secret deployment of the VF-0 and SV-51 by the UN Government and Anti-UN forces in 2008, September. (The events are kept secret for at least five decades.)
    • New Anderson Base - Guam. First mentioned: 2044 (VFF stationed at the base - though could be on another planet, a la New Edwards of Eden.)
  • South America
    • Grand Cannon V (Brazilian Autonomous Region) - construction began in 2007, May.
  • Location - unknown
    • Eagle Nest Aerial Tactics Centre - in 2029 Captain Milia Jenius is appointed as an instructor at the centre.
    • New Miramar Base

Earth Orbit

• Factory Satellite - in Earth orbit from 2011, November.
• New Frontier
• Earth Defense Force (Isamu Alva Dyson assigned here 2037.01.23)
• Space Colony Clusters [Bunches ] - survived SWI unscathed. Location unknown.
• 700 - 10,000 Km from surface: Inner Van Allen radiation belt
• 20,000 - 30,000+ Km from Surface: Outer Van Allen radiation belt

Earth-Moon Lagrange Points

• L₄
  • Earth's Lagrange 4 space unit: Suzie Newtlet ends her test pilot assignment and relocates to the unit in 2049
  • Kordylewski cloud - could be at least 14,000 km across; about the size of the Earth.

  ---

• L₅
  • Manufacturing Station ( in Lunar orbit) - Large-scale station and construction site of ARMD Carriers and Oberth Destroyers from 2003, April. Station presumably damaged during SWI. Construction of the station began in 2001, May.
  • New Frontier (Ship Yards and Space Colony) This could be the manufacturing station post SWI.
  • Kordylewski cloud - could be at least 14,000 km across; about the size of the Earth.

Moon

• Equatorial diameter: 3,476.2 km (0.273 Earths). (#14)
• 384,399 (363,104 - 405,696) Km from Earth
• 27.32 days
• Apollo Lunar Base Colony (In the Sea of Tranquility on the Lunar surface) - In a factory beneath the Base, using feedback from restoration work on the ASS-1, construction begins on SDF-2, a stellar space warship entirely of Earth origin in 2003, November. Construction of the large-scale permanent base began in 2000, October. Patrols of the Solar System begin in 2010, June, using Super Valkyries based at Apollo Base.
• Moon Riverside City (Lunar surface's civilian sector, Earth's Moon)
• Grand Cannon IV (North Polar Region) - construction began in 2006, March.
• Moon Base (Isamu Alva Dyson assigned here 2036.10.30)
• Test sight of the first thermonuclear reaction bomb (Lunar Surface) - detonation occured in 2004, February.

Near-Earth object

• are objects that have a near Earth orbit not too close to the sun so that a the surface material never evaporates, having a diameter over 50 metres.
• As of December 31, 2008, 5,857 near-Earth asteroids are known, ranging in size up to ~32 kilometers (1036 Ganymed).
• The number of near-Earth asteroids over 1 Km in diameter is estimated to be 500 - 1,000.
• The composition of near-Earth asteroids is comparable to that of asteroids from the main asteroid belt, reflecting a variety of asteroid spectral types

  3753 Cruithne

  • ~5 Km
  • 0.998 (0.484 to 1.51) AU from Sol
  • 1.00 years
  • "Earth's second Moon"!

  ---

  Earth-crosser Asteroids

• is a Near-Earth asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Earth.

  The Atens

  • have average orbital radii closer than one AU and aphelia of greater than Earth's perihelion (0.983 AU), placing them usually inside the orbit of Earth.
  • are named after 2062 Aten - 0.9 Km.
  • as of July 2004, 16 are known and numbered, and some 212 awaiting numbering.
    • Apohele asteroid
    • a subclass of the Apollos with their orbits entirely within Earth's.
    • as of March 2008, there are only five confirmed, and four suspected Apoheles.
  

  The Apollos

  • have average orbital radii greater than that of the Earth and perihelia less than Earth's aphelion (1.017 AU).
  • Some can get very close to the Earth, making them a potential threat to our planet
  • there are 240 known members
  • are named after 1862 Apollo - 1.7 Km
    • 25143 Itokawa - 535x294x209 m
    • 1866 Sisyphus - 8.5 Km

  The Amors

  • have average orbital radii in between the orbits of Earth and Mars and perihelia slightly outside Earth's orbit (1.017 - 1.3 AU). Amors often cross the orbit of Mars, but they do not cross the orbit of Earth.
  • there are 1,200 Amor asteroids known today. Under 200 of them are numbered, and over 50 of them are named.
  • are named after 1221 Amor - 1.5(?) Km.
    Amor I
    • a subgroup whose semi-major axes are in between Earth and Mars (between 1.000 and 1.523 AU).
    • Less than one fifth of Amor asteroids belong to this subgroup.
    • Amor I asteroids have lower eccentricities than the other subgroups of Amors.
      • 433 Eros - 34.4x11.2x11.2 km

      ---

      Amor II
    • a subgoup has a semi-major axis between that of Mars (1.52 au) and the main asteroid belt (2.12 au).
    • About a third of Amors, including 1221 Amor, belong to this group.
    • They have moderate eccentricities (from 0.17 to 0.52)
    • Their orbits usually take them out into the asteroid belt.

      ---

      Amor III
    • almost half of all Amor asteroids lie within the main asteroid belt, and thus have semi-major axes between 2.12 and 3.57 AU. These can be considered main belt objects with high enough eccentricities to come near the Earth, usually 0.4 to 0.6.
    • because their eccentricities are very large, about a third of Amor III asteroids have orbits that stretch beyond the asteroid belt and come within 1 AU of Jupiter. 719 Albert and 1036 Ganymed are two such asteroids. The most extreme Amor III asteroids (such as 5370 Taranis) are actually Jupiter-crossers.
    • because they lie within the main asteroid belt, several Amor III asteroids also belong to subgroups of the asteroid belt. For instance, the first Alinda asteroid (in 1:3 resonance with Jupiter and close to a 4:1 resonance with Earth) discovered was 887 Alinda.

      ---

      Amor IV
    • are only a few known Amor asteroids whose average distance from the Sun is beyond the asteroid belt. Their semi-major axes are greater than 3.57 au and they are considered Amor IV asteroids.
    • are all Jupiter-crossers, though they have very high eccentricities (0.65 to 0.75), they are not as eccentric as most Damocloids and comets, which tend to have eccentricities around 0.9.
    • The only numbered and named Amor IV asteroid is 3552 Don Quixote - 18.7 to 19.0 Km.
    • So far, no Amor asteroid has been discovered that crosses the orbit of Saturn.

Mars

• 1.5 AU from Sol
• Equatorial diameter: 6,804.9 km (0.533 Earths). (#8)
• 1.88 years
• H.G. Wells City (Gamlin Kizaki born here, 2026.01.17)
• SALLA Base - parmanent base. Construction began in 2001, July. Manned by UN Spacy personnel from 2003, November until 2005, August, with withdrawal from Mars Base led by Harry Miler. The return fleet from Mars is destroyed at 18:00 on September 8 by the Anti-UN hijacked Oberth class space destroyer Tsiolkovsky with a loss of 3,055 UN Forces personnel.
  
  

  ---

  

• Phobos

  • 22.2 Km
  • 9,377 (9,235.6 to 9,518.8) Km from Mars.
  • 7 h 39.2 min
    Its low orbit means that Phobos will eventually be destroyed: tidal forces are lowering its orbit, currently at the rate of about 1.8 metres per century, and in about 50 million years it will either impact the surface of Mars or (more likely) break up into a planetary ring.
    Because of its ellipsoidal shape alone, the gravity on Phobos' surface varies by about 210%; the tidal forces raised by Mars more than double this variation (to about 450%) because they compensate for a little more than half of Phobos' gravity at its sub- and anti-Mars poles.
    As seen from Phobos, Mars would be 6,400 times larger and 2,500 times brighter than the full Moon as seen from Earth, taking up a full 1/4 of the width of a celestial hemisphere.
  

• Deimos

  • 12.4 Km
  • 23,460 km from Mars.
  • 1.262 days.
    As seen from Deimos, Mars would be 1000 times larger and 400 times brighter than the full Moon as seen from Earth, taking up a full 1/11 of the width of a celestial hemisphere.

Mars Trojans

• at the L₅ point: 5261 Eureka ~2 to 4 Km.

Mars-crosser Asteroids

• Refer to link for extensive list of Co-orbitals, Inner Grazers, Inner Grazers that are also Earth Crossers or Grazers, Mars Crossers that are also Earth Crossers or Grazers, Outer Grazers, & Mars Crossers.

Asteroid Belt

• is the region located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.
• it is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets.
• is also termed the main belt to distinguish it from other concentrations of minor planets within the Solar System, such as the Kuiper belt and scattered disc.
• more than half the mass of the main belt is contained in the four largest objects: Ceres, 4 Vesta, 2 Pallas, and 10 Hygiea. All of these have mean diameters of more than 400 km; while Ceres, the main belt's only dwarf planet, is about 950 km in diameter.
• the remaining bodies range down to the size of a dust particle.
• some asteroids have a median spin period of 11.5 hours.
• the asteroid material is so thinly distributed that multiple unmanned spacecraft have traversed it without incident; it would be highly improbable to reach an asteroid without aiming carefully.
• hundreds of thousands of asteroids are currently known, and the total number ranges in the millions or more, depending on the lower size cutoff. Over 200 asteroids are known to be larger than 100 km, while a survey in the infrared wavelengths shows that the main belt has 700 000 to 1.7 million asteroids with a diameter of 1 km or more.
• collisions between large asteroids do occur, and these can form an asteroid family whose members have similar orbital characteristics and compositions.
• collisions also produce a fine dust that forms a major component of the zodiacal light.
• individual asteroids within the main belt are categorized by their spectra, with most falling into three basic groups: carbonaceous (C-type), silicate (S-type), and metal-rich (M-type).
• asteroid orbits continue to be appreciably perturbed whenever their period of revolution about the Sun forms an orbital resonance with Jupiter. At these orbital distances, a Kirkwood gap occurs as they are swept into other orbits.

Hungaria family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 1.78 and 2.00 AU. The asteroids typically have a low eccentricity (below 0.18) and an inclination of 16 to 34 degrees.
• They have an orbital period of approximately 2.5 years.
• They have a resonance with Jupiter of 9:2 and with Mars of 3:2.
• the namesake is 434 Hungaria; 13-30 Km.

Flora family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 2.15 and 2.35 AU. The asteroids have an inclination of 1.5 to 8.0 degrees.
• Roughly 4-5% of all main belt asteroids belong to this family.
• the namesake is 8 Flora

  8 Flora

  • 136x136x113 Km
  • 2.202 (1.858 to 2.546) AU from Sol.
  • 3.27 years
  • It is the innermost large asteroid: no asteroid closer to the Sun has a diameter above 25 kilometres or two-elevenths that of Flora itself.
  

  951 Gaspra

  • 18.2x10.5x8.9 Km
  • 2.210 (1.825 to 2.594) AU from Sol.
  • 3.28 years

Phocaea family

• a group of asteroids that orbit the sun between 2.25 and 2.5 AU and have orbits with eccentricities greater than 0.1 and inclinations between 18 and 32.
• the namesake is 25 Phocaea; 75.1 Km.

Vesta family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 2.26 and 2.48 AU. The asteroids have an inclination of 5.0 to 8.3 degrees.
• 240 members have been discovered. Approximately 6% of main belt asteroids belong to this family.
• the namesake is 4 Vesta

  4 Vesta

  • 578x560x458 Km
  • 2.361 (2.151 AU to 2.572) AU from Sol.
  • 3.63 years
  • is the second most massive object in the asteroid belt, and has an estimated mass of 9% of the mass of the entire asteroid belt.

7 Iris

• 240x200x200 Km
• 2.385 (1.833 to 2.937) AU from Sol.
• 3.68 years.
• Among S-type asteroids it ranks fifth in geometric mean diameter.

9 Metis

• 222x182x130 Km
• 2.387 (2.096 to 2.678) AU from Sol.
• 3.69 years.
• is estimated to contain just under half a percent of the total mass of the asteroid belt.

192 Nausikaa

• 103.3 Km Km
• 2.402 (1.808 to 2.997) AU from Sol.
• 3.72 years.
• a possible satellite was reported in 1985.

Nysa family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 2.41 and 2.5 AU. The asteroids have an inclination of 1.5 to 4.3 degrees.
• 380 members have been discovered.
• the namesake is 44 Nysa

  44 Nysa

  • 113+/-10x67+/-10x65+/-12 Km
  • 2.42 (2.065 to 2.783) AU from Sol.
  • 3.77 years

6 Hebe

• 205x185x170 Km
• 2.426 (1.937 to 2.914) AU from Sol.
• 3.78 years.
• contains around half a percent of the mass of the belt.
• is probably the parent body of the H chondrite meteorites, which account for a remarkable 40% of all meteorites striking the Earth.

19 Fortuna

• 225x205x195 Km
• 2.441 (2.052 to 2.831) AU from Sol.
• 3.81 years.
• its shape was found to be nearly spherical. Satellites were searched for but none were detected.

Alinda family

• a group of asteroids with a semi-major axis of about 2.5 AU and an orbital eccentricity approximately between 0.4 and 0.65.
• the namesake is 887 Alinda; ? Km.
• these objects are held in this region by the 1:3 orbital resonance with Jupiter, which results in them being close to a 4:1 resonance with Earth. An object in this resonance has its orbital eccentricity steadily increased by gravitational interactions with Jupiter until it eventually has a close encounter with an inner planet that breaks the resonance.
• Some Alindas have perihelia very close to Earth's orbit, resulting in a series of close encounters at almost exactly four-year intervals, due to the 4:1 near resonance.

Maria family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 2.50 and 2.706 AU. The asteroids have an inclination of 12 to 17 degrees.
• About 80 members have been found.
• the namesake is 170 Maria - 44.3 Km

29 Amphitrite

• 233x212x193 Km
• 2.554 (2.369 to 2.739) AU from Sol.
• 4.08 years.
• is one of the largest S-type asteroids, probably third in diameter.

5 Astraea

• 167x123x82 Km
• 2.573 (2.0778 to 3.070) AU from Sol.
• 4.13 years.

13 Egeria

• 207.6 Km
• 2.576 (2.358 to 2.794) AU from Sol.
• 4.13 years.

Eunomia family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 2.53 and 2.72 AU. The asteroids have an inclination of 11.1 to 15.8 degrees.
• It is the most prominent family in the intermediate main belt. About 5% of all main belt asteroids belong to this family.
• the namesake is 15 Eunomia

  15 Eunomia

  • 357x255x212 Km
  • 2.643 (2.149 to 3.138) AU from Sol.
  • 4.30 years

3 Juno

• 320x267x200 Km
• 2.672 (1.988 to 3.356) AU from Sol
• 4.37 years
• Juno is estimated to contain 1% of the total mass of the asteroid belt.

324 Bamberga

• 229 Km
• 2.683 (1.775 to 3.591) AU from Sol.
• 4.4 years.

45 Eugenia

• 232x193x161 Km
• 2.720 (2.497 to 2.943) AU from Sol.
• 4.49 years.
• It is also the second known triple asteroid.
  • S/2004 (45) 1 - 6 Km; orbits at 700(?) Km every 2(?) days.
  • (45) Eugenia I Petit-Prince - 13 Km; orbits at 1184+/-12 Km every 4.766 days.

Pallas family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 2.71 and 2.79 AU. The asteroids have an inclination of 30 to 38 degrees.
• the namesake is 2 Pallas

  2 Pallas

  • 582x556x500 +/-9 Km
  • 2.772 (2.132 to 3.412) AU from Sol.
  • 4.62 years

532 Herculina

• 225 Km
• 2.771 (2.29 to 3.26) AU from Sol.
• 4.62 years.
• is not spherical, but a blocky shape not unlike a battered cuboid - or, as the analysis described it, it "resembles a toaster". This analysis indicates the presence of multiple largish craters.
• possible 45 Km satellite orbiting at a distance of around 1,000 Km.

Gefion family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 2.74 and 2.82 AU. The asteroids have an inclination of 7.4 to 10.5 degrees.
• About 766 objects belong to this family.
• Until recently, this family was known as the Ceres family or the Minerva family; however, spectroscopic analyses showed that these largest members are interlopers.
• the namesake is 1272 Gefion; ? Km.

1 Ceres

• 974.6 +/13.6 km
• 2.765 (2.545 to 2.987) AU
• 4.559 years
  There are some indications that the Cererian surface is relatively warm and that it may have a tenuous atmosphere and frost. The maximum temperature, when the Sun is overhead, has been estimated to be 235 K (about -38 degrees C). A more recent study suggests the presence of a rocky core overlain with an icy mantle. This mantle of thickness from 120 to 60 km could contain 200 million cubic kilometers of water, which is more than the amount of fresh water on the Earth.
  
• Ceres Base
  • Stationary West Point Macro-Training Ship - VF-X2 Mission 9

88 Thisbe

• 221x201x168 Km
• 2.768 (2.312 to 3.224) AU from Sol.
• 4.60 years.

Koronis family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 2.83 and 2.91 AU. The asteroids have an inclination of 0 to 3.5 degrees.
• Over 300 have been found but only about 20 are larger than 20 km in diameter.
• the namesake is 158 Koronis; 35.4 Km

  243 Ida

  • 53.6x24.0x15.2 Km
  • 2.861 (2.729 to 2.994) AU from Sol.
  • 4.84 years
    • (243) Ida I Dactyl - 1.4 Km; orbits at 108 Km every 1.54 days.

16 Psyche

• 240x185x145 Km
• 2.921 (2.513 to 3.328) AU from Sol.
• 4.99 years.
• is one of the ten most massive Main belt asteroids and contains a little less than 1% of the mass of the entire main asteroid belt. It is the most massive of the metallic M-type asteroids.
• appears to have a fairly regular surface and is approximately ellipsoidal in shape.

Eos family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 2.99 and 3.03 AU. The asteroids have an inclination of 8 to 12 degrees.
• Currently 480 members are known.
• the namesake is 221 Eos

  221 Eos

  • 104.0 Km
  • 3.011 (2.701 to 3.322) AU from Sol.
  • 5.23 years

  423 Diotima

  • 208.7 Km
  • 3.066 (2.941 to 3.191) AU from Sol.
  • 5.37 years.
  • It is likely the sixth most massive asteroid, with a mass estimated to be 1.2% of the mass of the entire asteroid belt.

451 Patientia ¹

• 224.96 Km
• 3.061 (2.825 to 3.298) AU from Sol.
• 5.36 years.

704 Interamnia

• 350.3x303.6 Km
• 3.062 (2.601 to 3.522) AU from Sol.
• 5.36 years.
• It is likely the sixth most massive asteroid, with a mass estimated to be 1.2% of the mass of the entire asteroid belt.

52 Europa

• 360x315x240 Km
• 3.101 (2.785 to 3.417) AU from Sol.
• 5.46 years.
• is approximately the seventh largest asteroid by volume, though it has a low density (is highly porous), presumably through having suffered a particularly severe collision.

48 Doris

• 278x142 Km
• 3.110 (2.877 to 3.343) AU from Sol.
• 5.49 years.
• is an extremely irregular shaped object.

375 Ursula

• 216+/-10 Km
• 3.125 (2.789 to 3.46) AU from Sol.
• 5.52 years.

Hygiea family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 3.06 and 3.24 AU. The asteroids have an inclination of 3.5 to 6.8 degrees.
• About 1% of all known main belt asteroids belong to this family.
• the namesake is 10 Hygiea

  10 Hygiea

  • 530x407x370 Km
  • 3.139 (2.770 to 3.507) AU from Sol.
  • 5.56 years
  • has a mass estimated to be 2.9% of the total mass of the belt; it is the fourth largest object in the region by volume and mass.

Themis family

• a group of asteroids in the main belt that orbit the Sun between 3.08 and 3.24 AU. The asteroids have an inclination of 0 to 3 degrees.
• To date, the Themis family comprises approximately 535 known asteroids.
• consists of a well-defined core of larger asteroids and a surrounding region of smaller ones.
• the namesake is 24 Themis

  24 Themis

  • 198 Km
  • 3.130 (2.715 to 3.545) AU from Sol.
  • 5.54 years
  • is one of the largest Main belt asteroids.

31 Euphrosyne

• 255.9 Km
• 3.150 (2.438 to 3.851) AU from Sol.
• 5.59 years.
• Its low density strongly suggests that, unlike 10 Hygiea, 704 Interamnia and 511 Davida, Euphrosyne is a loosely-packed rubble pile.

94 Aurora

• 225x173 Km
• 3.159 (2.883 to 3.435) AU from Sol.
• 5.61 years.

511 Davida

• 289 +/-21 Km
• 3.167 (2.580 to 3.754) AU from Sol.
• 5.64 years.
• comprises an estimated 1.5% of the total mass of the asteroid belt.

Griqua family

• a group of asteroids in the Main Belt orbiting the sun between 3.1 and 3.27 AU. Asteroids in this group have eccentricities greater than 0.35.
• the namesake is 1362 Griqua; ? Km.
• These asteroids are at a 2:1 resonance with Jupiter's orbit. As such, their orbits are unstable; gradually perturbed over thousands of years until their orbits intersect with that of Mars or Jupiter.

Cybele asteroid

• a group of asteroids in the main belt with a mean orbital radius between 3.27 AU and 3.7 AU, an eccentricity less than 0.3, and an inclination less than 25��.
• orbit outward from the Sun from the 2:1 orbital resonance with Jupiter.
• the namesake is 65 Cybele

  65 Cybele

  • 302x290x232 Km
  • 3.433 (3.073 to 3.794) AU from Sol.
  • 6.36 years.
  • A hint of a possible 11 km wide satellite orbiting Cybele has been detected.

  107 Camilla

  • 344x246x205 Km
  • 3.477 (3.204 to 3.750) AU from Sol.
  • 6.48 years.
    • S/2001 (107) 1 - 11+/-2 Km; orbits at 1235+/-16 Km every 3.710 days.
  

  87 Sylvia

  • 384x264x232 Km.
  • 3.490 (3.213 to 3.768) AU from Sol.
  • 6.52 years.
    Moons of Sylvia: Astronomers believe that these moons were broken off Sylvia by an impact in the past, and that other, smaller moons may also be found.
    • Romulus - 18 +/- 4 km; orbits at 1,356 +/- 5 km.
    • Remus - 7 +/- 2 km; orbits at 706 +/- 5 km.

Jupiter

• 142,984+/-8 Km. (11.209 Earths) (#2)
• 5.20 (4.95 AU to 5.46) AU from Sol.
• 11.86 years
• Rings of Jupiter - 3: Halo, Main Ring, & Gossamer Ring.
• Jupiter's natural satellites - Jupiter has 63 known moons. Of that, numerous moons have retrograde orbits.

• White Flora Satellite City

---

• Io

  • 3642.6 Km (0.286 Earths) (#13)
  • 421,700 Km from Jupiter
  • 1.769 days
  

• Europa

  • 3,121.6 Km. (0.245 Earths) (#15)
  • 670,900 Km from Jupiter
  • 3.551 days
  • Europa hosts a number of UN Government mining bases (for water, amongst other minerals).
    • Europa Base 7 (Isamu Alva Dyson assigned here, 2038.02.09)

• Ganymede

  • 5,262.4 Km. (0.413 Earths) (#9)
  • 1,070,400 Km from Jupiter
  • 7.154 days
  • UN Government water and mining colony.

• Callisto

  • 4,820.6 Km. (0.378 Earths) (#12)
  • 1,882,700 Km from Jupiter
  • 16.689 days

Jupiter Trojan Asteroids

• are a large group of objects that share the orbit of the planet Jupiter around the Sun.
• Relative to a coordinate system that is fixed on Jupiter, each Trojan orbits one or other of the two Lagrangian points of stability, L4 and L5, that respectively lie 60 degrees ahead of and behind Jupiter in its orbit.
• have orbits with semi-major axes between 5.05 AU and 5.40 AU, and they are distributed throughout elongated, curved regions around the two Lagrangian points.
• the number of Jovian Trojans is approximately equal to the number of asteroids in the Main Asteroid Belt.
• have a median spin period of 18.9 hours.

  Greek Camp

  orbits the L₄ Lagrangian point of the Sun-Jupiter system.
  • 588 Achilles - 135.5 Km.
  • 624 Hektor - 370x195 Km.
  • 1437 Diomedes - 164.3 Km.
  • 1583 Antilochus - 101.6 Km.
  • 2797 Teucer - 111.1 Km.
  • 2920 Automedon - 111.0 Km.
  • 3063 Makhaon - 116.1 Km.
  • 3596 Meriones - 175 Km.

  Trojan Camp

  orbits the L₅ Lagrangian point of the Sun-Jupiter system.
  • 617 Patroclus & (617) Patroclus I Menoetius
    • 122 Km & 112 Km (Menoetius)
    • 5.228 (4.506 to 5.950) AU from Sol
    • 11.95 years
    • a binary minor planet made up of two similarly-sized objects orbiting their common centre of gravity at 680+/-20 Km every 4.283 days.
    • Recent evidence suggests that the objects are icy comets.
  • 2363 Cebriones - 81.84+/-5.1 Km.
  • (3708) 1974 FV₁ - 79.59 Km.
  

  Hilda family

• explore regions of the Solar system from approximately 2 AU up to Jupiter's orbit.
• consists of asteroids with a semi-major axis between 3.7 AU and 4.2 AU, an eccentricity greater than 0.07, and an inclination less than 20 degrees.
• are not a true asteroid family, in the sense that they do not descend from a common parent object. Instead, this is a dynamical family of bodies, made up of asteroids which are in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Jupiter.
• Hildas move in their elliptical orbits so that their aphelia put them opposite Jupiter, or 60 degrees ahead of or behind Jupiter at the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points. Over three successive orbits each Hilda asteroid passes through all of these three points in sequence.
• taken together, they constitute a dynamic triangular figure with slightly convex sides and trimmed apexes in the triangular libration points of Jupiter - the "Hildas Triangle". The "asteroidal stream" within the sides of the triangle is about 1 AU wide, and in the apexes this value is 20-40% greater. Figure 1 shows the positions of the Hildas (black) against a background of all known asteroids (gray) up to Jupiter's orbit at January 1, 2005.
• The namesake is 153 Hilda - 170.6 Km.

Centaur Planetoids

• A class of icy planetoids that orbit Sol between Jupiter and Neptune.
• Centaurs are not in stable orbits and will eventually be removed by the giant planets.
• Centaurs are dark in colour, because their icy surfaces have darkened after long exposure to solar radiation and the solar wind. However, fresh craters excavate brighter, more reflective ice from below the surface.

944 Hidalgo

• 38 Km
• 5.745 (1.951 to 9.539) AU from Sol.
• 13.77 years
• is a centaur-like object.
• Some astronomers therefore suspect that it was once a comet.

29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann

• ? Km
• 5.986 (5.722 to 6.25) AU from Sol.
• 14.65 years
• is a periodic comet and a centaur.

2005 VD

• 9 Km
• 6.664 (4.999 to 8.329) AU from Sol.
• 17.21 years
• is a centaur and/or a damocloid.

39P/Oterma

• ? Km
• 7.228 (5.469 to 8.988) AU from Sol.
• 19.43 years
• is a periodic comet and a centaur.

52872 Okyrhoe

• 48 Km
• 8.366 (5.799 to 10.934) AU from Sol.
• 24.20 years
• is a centaur.

2008 QD4

• 33 Km
• 8.425 (5.437 to 11.41) AU from Sol.
• 24.46 years
• is a centaur.

Saturn

• 120,536 +/-4 Km (9.45 Earths) (#3)
• 9.582 (9.05 to 10.12) AU from Sol.
• 29.66 years
• Rings of Saturn - Saturn has 15 rings.
• Saturn's natural satellites - Saturn has 60 known moons (plus 3 unconfirmed.) Of that, numerous moons have retrograde orbits.

---

• Mimas

  • 414.2 x 394.4 x 381.4 km (0.0311 Earths).
  • 185,520 Km
  • 0.942 days
    Mimas' low density (1.17) indicates that it is composed mostly of water ice with only a small amount of rock. Due to the tidal forces acting on it, the moon is not perfectly spherical; its longest axis is about 10% longer than the shortest. Mimas' most distinctive feature is a colossal impact crater 130 km across, named Herschel. Herschel's diameter is almost a third of the moon's own diameter; its walls are approximately 5 km high, parts of its floor measure 10 km deep, and its central peak rises 6 km above the crater floor.
  

• Enceladus

  • 504.2 +/-0.2 Km (0.0395 Earths)
  • 237,948 Km
  • 1.37 days
    Given its position in Saturn's E ring, the youthful appearance of portions of Enceladus' surface, the recent discovery of a short-lived atmosphere, and a hot spot near the south pole, it is likely that Enceladus is geologically active today.

• Tethys

  • 1,066 +/-1.40 Km 0.083 Earths).
  • 294,619 Km
  • 1.89 Days
    It is composed almost entirely of water-ice.
    The western hemisphere of Tethys is dominated by a huge impact crater called Odysseus, whose 400 km diameter is nearly 2/5 of that of Tethys itself. The crater is now quite flat (or more precisely, it conforms to Tethys' spherical shape), like the craters on Callisto, without the high ring mountains and central peaks commonly seen on the Moon and Mercury. This is most likely due to the slumping of the weak Tethyan icy crust over geologic time.
    The second major feature seen on Tethys is a huge valley called Ithaca Chasma, 100 km wide and 3 to 5 km deep. It runs 2,000 km long, approximately 3/4 of the way around Tethys' circumference.
    The Tethyan surface temperature is -187 degrees C.
  • Saturn-Tethys Lagrangian points
    • L₄: Telesto - 29x22x20 Km.
    • L₅: Calypso - 30x23x14 Km.
  

• Dione

  • 1,123.4 Km (0.000328 Earths).
  • 377,396 Km
  • 2.74 days
    Dione is composed primarily of water ice.
  • Saturn-Dione Lagrangian points
    • L₄: Helene - 36x32x30 Km.
    • L₅: Polydeuces - 3.5 Km.

• Rhea

  • 1,528.6 +/-2.20 Km (0.00039 Earths)
  • 527,108 Km
  • 4.52 days
    Rhea is an icy body with a density of about 1,240 kg/m3. This low density indicates that it has a rocky core taking up less than one-third of the moon's mass with the rest composed of water-ice.

• Titan

  • 5,152 +/- 4.0 Km (0.404 Earths) (#10)
  • 1,221,870 Km
  • 15.95 days
    Titan is the only moon in our solar system to have a dense atmosphere. Titanian volcanism is now believed to be a significant source of the methane in the atmosphere.
    Titan is about half water ice and half rocky material. It is probably differentiated into several layers with a 3400 km rocky center surrounded by several layers composed of different crystal forms of ice. Its interior may still be hot. Though similar in composition to Rhea and the rest of Saturn's moons, it is denser due to gravitational compression.

• Hyperion

  • 576.67 Km.
  • 1,481,009 Km
  • 21.276 days
    is composed largely of water ice with only a small amount of rock. It is thought that Hyperion may be similar to a loosely accreted pile of rubble in its physical composition. However, unlike most of Saturn's moons, Hyperion has a low albedo (0.2?0.3), indicating that it is covered by at least a thin layer of dark material. This may be material from Phoebe (which is much darker) that got past Iapetus. Hyperion is redder than Phoebe and closely matches the color of the dark material on Iapetus.

• Iapetus

  • 2916.6 Km.
  • 3,560,820 Km
  • 79.32 days
    The low density of Iapetus indicates that it is primarily composed of ice, with only a small amount of rocky materials.
    The overall shape of Iapetus is neither spherical nor ellipsoid - unusual for a large moon; parts of its globe appear to be squashed flat, and its unique equatorial ridge is so high that it visibly distorts the moon's shape even when viewed from a distance.

60558 Echeclus

• 84 Km
• 10.772 (5.858 to 15.687) AU from Sol.
• 35.36 years
• is only the second comet (after Chiron) that has the same name as an asteroid (rather than the name of its discoverer(s) as with other comets).
• is a centaur; other centaurs are being observed for signs of a cometary coma.
• On 30 December 2005, when 13.1 AU from the Sun, a large chunk of Echeclus was observed to break off, causing a great cloud of dust. Astronomers have speculated this could have been caused by an impact or by an explosive release of volatile substances.

Damocloid asteroid

• are asteroids such as Damocles and 1996 PW that have long-period highly eccentric orbits typical of periodic comets such as Comet Halley, but without showing a cometary coma or tail.
• are believed to be nuclei of Halley-type comets that have lost all their volatile materials due to outgassing. Such comets are believed to originate from the Oort cloud. This hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that a number of objects thought to be Damocloids (and assigned minor planet provisional designations) subsequently showed a coma and were confirmed to be comets: C/2001 OG108 (LONEOS), C/2002 CE10 (LINEAR), C/2002 VQ94 (LINEAR), C/2004 HV60 (Spacewatch) and possibly others.
• Another strong indication of cometary origin is the fact that some Damocloids have retrograde orbits, unlike any other asteroids.
• As of July 2007, 36 Damocloids were known.
• Their average radius is 8 Km.
• The albedos of four Damocloids have been measured, and they are among the darkest objects known in the Solar system. Damocloids are reddish in color, but not as red as many Kuiper belt objects or Centaurs.

5335 Damocles

• ~10 Km
• 11.84 (1.58 to 22.10) AU from Sol.
• 40.74 years
• is the archetype of the Damocloids, asteroids that are inactive nuclei of the Halley Family and long period comets.
• There is some speculation that it may have a meteor shower associated with it on Mars from the direction of Draco.

2060 Chiron

• 223 +/-14 (132 - 152) Km
• 13.670 (8.449 to 18.891) AU from Sol.
• 50.54 years
• is officially designated as both a comet and an asteroid, an indication of the sometimes fuzzy dividing line between the two classes of object. The term proto-comet has also been used. At approximately 150 km across, it is unusually large for a comet nucleus.

166P/NEAT

• ? Km
• 13.83 (8.559 to 19.1) AU from Sol.
• 51.53 years
• is a periodic comet and centaur

10199 Chariklo

• 258.6 +/-10.3 Km
• 15.87 (13.08 to 18.66) AU from Sol.
• 63.17 years
• is the largest known centaur.

8405 Asbolus

• 76 Km
• 18.07 (6.843 to 29.31) AU from Sol.
• 76.88 years
• is a centaur.

Uranus

• 51,118 Km (4.0 Earths). (#4)
• 19.23 (18.38 AU to 20.08) AU from Sol.
• 84.32 years
• Rings of Uranus
• Uranus' Natural Satellites - Uranus has 27 known moons. Of that, 6 of them have a retrograde orbit.

  ---

• Miranda

  • 471.6 Km (0.03697 Earths).
  • 129,390 Km
  • 1.413 Days

• Ariel

  • 1157.8 Km (0.0908 Earths) (#29)
  • 190,900 Km
  • 2.520 Days
  

• Umbriel

  • 1169.4 Km (0.092 Earths) (#28)
  • 266,000 Km
  • 4.144 Days

• Titania

  • 1577.8 Km (0.124 Earths) (#20)
  • 436,300 Km
  • 9.706 days

• Oberon

  • 1522.8 Km (0.1194 Earths) (#22)
  • 583,519 Km
  • 13.463 days

5145 Pholus

• 185 +/-16 Km
• 20.356 (8.730 to 31.98) AU from Sol.
• 91.85 years
• is a centaur of the solar system running in an eccentric orbit, with a perihelion less than Saturn's and aphelion greater than Neptune's.
• Close approches to Saturn and Neptune are rare.
• found to be quite red in color, for which it has been occasionally nicknamed "Big Red". The color has been speculated to be due to organic compounds on its surface
• has shown no signs of cometary activity.

20461 Dioretsa

• ? Km
• 23.85 (2.4 to 45.3) AU from Sol.
• ? years
• has an unusual orbit, which is highly eccentric and retrograde.
• its orbit is otherwise similar to a comet's. This has led to speculation that Dioretsa was originally an object from the Oort Cloud.

7066 Nessus

• 60 +/-16 Km
• 24.655 (11.826 to 37.483) AU from Sol.
• 122.42 years
• is a centaur

Neptune

• Equatorial diameter: 49,528 km, Polar diameter: 48,681 km. (#5)
• 30.1 (29.10 77 to 30.44) AU from Sol.
• 164.79 years
• Rings of Neptune.
• Neptune's Natural Satellites - Neptune has 13 known moons. Of that, 5 of them have a retrograde orbit.

  ---

• Proteus

  • 440 x 416 x 404 (+/-15) Km.
  • 117,647 Km
  • 1.122 days
    Proteus is one of the darkest objects in the solar system, as dark as soot; it reflects only 6% of the sunlight that strikes it.
    Proteus is very cratered showing no sign of any geological modification. It is also irregularly shaped; scientists believe Proteus is about as large as a body of its density can be without being pulled into a spherical shape by its own gravity.
  

• Triton

  • 2706.8+/-0.9 Km. (#16)
  • 354,759 Km
  • -5.877 days
    Triton is unique among all large moons in the solar system for its retrograde orbit around the planet (i.e., it orbits in a direction opposite to the planet's rotation).
    Triton's axis of rotation is also unusual, tilted 157 degress with respect to Neptune's axis, and 130 with respect to Neptune's orbit. This means Triton's rotational axis points within 40 of the Sun twice per Neptunian year, much like Uranus'. As Neptune orbits the Sun, Triton's polar regions take turns facing the Sun, probably resulting in radical seasonal changes as one pole then the other moves into the sunlight. During the Voyager 2 encounter, Triton's south pole was facing the Sun. Almost the entire southern hemisphere was covered with an "ice cap" of frozen nitrogen and methane.

• Nereid

  • 340 (+/-50) Km
  • 5,513,787 (1,372,000 to 9,655,000) Km
  • 360.1362 days
    Its has the most highly eccentric orbit of any known satellite in the solar system. The unusual Nereidian orbit suggests that it may be a captured asteroid or Kuiper belt object; or possibly that it was perturbed during the capture of Neptune's largest moon Triton. Very little else is known of Nereid.

Neptune Trojan Asteroids

• They lie in the elongated, curved region around the L₄ Lagrangian point 60 degrees ahead of Neptune.
• As of May 2008, there are six known Neptune trojans which have the same orbital period as Neptune.
• The discovery of 2005 TN₅₃ in a high inclination (>25 degrees) orbit is significant as it suggests a 'thick' cloud of trojans. It is believed that large (radius > 100 km) Neptune trojans could outnumber Jupiter trojans by an order of magnitude.
  • 2001 QR₃₂₂ - 75 to 230 Km.
  • 2004 UP₁₀ - ? Km.
  • 2005 TN₅₃ - 40 to 90 Km.
  • 2005 TO₇₄ - ? Km.
  • 2006 RJ₁₀₃ - 85 to 190 Km.
  • 2007 VL₃₀₅ - 65 to 150 Km.

2007 RW₁₀

• ? Km
• 30.366 (21.160 to 39.572) AU from Sol.
• 167.34 years

(44594) 1999 OX₃

• 192 Km
• 32.407 (17.644 to 47.169) AU from Sol.
• 184.49 years
• a centaur and/or a Trans-Neptunian Object

Kuiper Belt

• 30 to approximately 55 AU from Sol.
• the main Body of the belt is 39.5 to 48 AU from Sol.
• is similar to the asteroid belt, although it is far larger; 20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive.
• is quite thick, with the main concentration extending as much as ten degrees outside the ecliptic plane and a more diffuse distribution of objects extending several times farther. Overall it more resembles a torus or doughnut than a belt. Its mean position is inclined to the ecliptic by 1.86 degrees.
• The presence of Neptune has a profound effect on the Kuiper belt's structure due to orbital resonances. Over a timescale comparable to the age of the Solar System, Neptune's gravity destabilises the orbits of any objects which happen to lie in certain regions, and either sends them into the inner Solar System or out into the Scattered disc or interstellar space. This causes the Kuiper belt to possess pronounced gaps in its current layout, similar to the Kirkwood gaps in the Asteroid belt. In the region between 40 and 42 AU, for instance, no objects can retain a stable orbit over such times, and any observed in that region must have migrated there relatively recently.
• Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies composed largely of frozen volatiles (dubbed "ices"), such as methane, ammonia, and water.

1993 RP

• 70? Km
• 37.425 (35.092 to 39.759) AU from Sol.
• 228.96 years
• Plutino

42355 Typhon

• 134+/-13 Km
• 38.162 (17.526 to 58.799) AU from Sol.
• ? years
• SDO
  • (42355) Typhon I Echidna - 78+/-8 Km; orbits at ~1,300 Km in about 11 days.

1993 RO

• 90? Km
• 39.045 (31.462 to 46.628) AU from Sol.
• 243.98 years
• Plutino

(15788) 1993 SB

• 130? Km
• 39.146 (26.719 to 51.572) AU from Sol.
• 244.93 years
• Plutino

38083 Rhadamanthus

• 87-276 Km
• 39.16 (33.21 to 45.10) AU from Sol.
• 245.01 years

90482 Orcus

• 946.3 +74.1/-72.3 Km
• 39.19 (30.32 to 48.05) AU from Sol.
• 245.33 years

(47171) 1999 TC₃₆

Is classified as a plutino with a 2:3 mean motion resonance with Neptune and is among the brighter trans-Neptunian objects.
• 414 +/-38 Km
• 39.26 (30.56 to 47.95) AU from Sol.
• 245.96 years

Pluto

• 2,390 Km (0.19 Earths) (#18)
• 39.48 (29.66 to 49.31) AU from Sol.
• 248.09 years

  ---

• Charon

  
  Due to the unusually small difference in size between it and Pluto, Pluto and Charon are sometimes considered to be a double planet. They are also sometimes thought of as not a planet and a satellite, but as the first binary planet.
  • 1,207 +/-3 Km.
  • 17,536 +/-4 Km (to barycenter)
  • 6 days 9 hours 17 minutes

• Nix

  • 23-68 Km
  • 48,708 Km
  • 24.86 days

• Hydra

  • 30-84 Km
  • 64,749 Km
  • 38.21 days

28978 Ixion

• 650 +250/-220 Km
• 39.68 (30.09 to 49.27) AU from Sol.
• 249.95 years

38628 Huya

• 480 +/-50 Km
• 39.76 (28.54 to 50.99) AU from Sol.
• 250.73 years

(24835) 1995 SM₅₅

• 702 Km
• 41.653 (37.400 to 45.905) AU from Sol.
• 268.83 years
• Based on it's common pattern of IR water-ice absorption and the clustering of their orbital elements, it appears to be a collisional fragment broken off the dwarf planet Haumea.

2005 TN₇₄

• 85 to 240 Km
• 42.4 (32.1 to 52.8) AU from Sol.
• 276.91 years

(145453) 2005 RR₄₃

• 697 Km
• 43.073 (37.183 to 48.964) AU from Sol
• ? years
• Based on it's common pattern of IR water-ice absorption and the clustering of their orbital elements, it appears to be a collisional fragment broken off the dwarf planet Haumea.

20000 Varuna

• 800 Km
• 43.13 (40.92 to 45.34) AU from Sol.
• 283.20 years

2002 TX₃₀₀

• 470 to 709 Km
• 43.14 (37.79 to 48.48) AU from Sol.
• 283.35 years
• Based on it's common pattern of IR water-ice absorption and the clustering of their orbital elements, it appears to be a collisional fragment broken off the dwarf planet Haumea.

(120178) 2003 OP₃₂

• 666 Km
• 43.282 (38.602 to 47.963) AU from Sol
• 284.76 years
• Based on it's common pattern of IR water-ice absorption and the clustering of their orbital elements, it appears to be a collisional fragment broken off the dwarf planet Haumea.

(19308) 1996 TO₆₆

• 330-750 Km
• 43.212 (37.952 to 48.471) AU from Sol
• 284.06 years
• Based on it's common pattern of IR water-ice absorption and the clustering of their orbital elements, it appears to be a collisional fragment broken off the dwarf planet Haumea.

Haumea

• ~1960 x 1518 x 996 km (~1400 km), 1150 +250/-100 km (#23)
  The rotation period of Haumea is much faster than any other object of its size, less than four hours. The fast rotation has caused the object to become highly oblate: it is twice as long as wide and shorter still in height. Spiralling-in effect of 2003 EL61 and its moon may have caused the speeding up of the rotation. The spectra of Haumea, which show strong water ice features similar to what is seen on the surface of Pluto's moon Charon. Methane ice has been detected on the surface of Haumea, which means it has never been very close to the Sun. Its reflectivity is reported being "almost that of pure snow".
• 43.335 (35.164-51.526) AU
• 285.4 years

  ---

• Namaka

  • ~85 Km
  • 39,300 Km
  • 18 days

• Hi'iaka

  • ~310 Km
  • 49,500 +/-400 Km
  • 49.12 days

(50000) Quaoar

• 1260 +/-190 Km
• 43.61 (41.93 to 45.29) AU from Sol.
• 287.97 years

(15760) 1992 QB₁

• 160 Km
• 43.73 (40.88 to 46.59) AU from Sol.
• 289.23 years

(79360) 1997 CS₂₉

• 305 Km
• 43.847 (43.296 to 44.398) AU from Sol.
• 290.35 years
• has one known natural satellite, which however is so close to the size of its primary that the two may be better thought of as a double cubewano.
  • S/2005 (79360) 1 - 292 Km; orbits at about 2,300 Km about every 6 days.

53311 Deucalion

• 211 Km
• 44.368 (41.579 to 47.157) AU from Sol.
• 295.540 years
• is classified as a cubewano.

1998 WW₃₁

• 133 +/-15 Km
• 44.489 (40.559 to 48.419) AU from Sol.
• 296.75 years
• forms a binary system with another object with the designation S/2000 (1998 WW₃₁) 1 - 110 +/-12 Km; orbits at 22,300 +/-800 Km every 574 +/-10 days.

2008 KV₄₂ "Drac"

• ? Km
• 45.462 (20.330 to 70.595) AU from Sol.
• 306.54 years
• is orbiting the Sun backwards and almost perpendicular to the ecliptic: it has a 104 degree inclination. This odd orbit suggests that it may have been pulled into our solar system from the Oort cloud.

(19521) Chaos

• ~560 Km
• 45.59 (40.93 to 50.27) AU from Sol.
• 309.10 years

Makemake

• 1,300-1,900 Km. (#19)
• 45.791 (38.51 to 53.07) AU from Sol
• 309.88 years

2002 AW₁₉₇

• 734 +116/-108 Km
• 47.28 (41.07 to 53.5) AU from Sol
• 325.15 years

(48639) 1995 TL₈

• ~350 Km
• 52.239 (40.016 to 64.462) AU from Sol
• 325.15 years
• Scattered disk object
  S/2002 (48639) 1 - ~160 Km; orbits at +/-420 Km possibly every 12 hours.

"Kuiper gap" or "Kuiper cliff"

• around 50 AU from Sol.
• The outer boundary of the Kuiper belt is not defined arbitrarily; rather, there appears to be a real and fairly sharp dropoff in objects beyond a certain distance. The cause for this remains a mystery; one possible explanation would be a hypothetical Earth-sized or Mars-sized object sweeping away debris.

Scattered disc

• a distant region of the Solar System that is sparsely populated by icy minor planets known as scattered disc objects (SDOs).
• SDOs orbit between no less than 30 AU, and well beyond 100 AU from Sol
• have orbital eccentricities ranging as high as 0.8, inclinations as high as 40 degrees.
• These extreme orbits are believed to be the result of gravitational "scattering" by the gas giants, and the objects continue to be subject to perturbation by the planet Neptune.
• The innermost portion of the scattered disc overlaps with a torus-shaped region of orbiting objects known as the Kuiper belt, but its outer limits reach much farther away from the Sun and farther above and below the ecliptic than the belt proper. 30 to 50 AU from Sol.

2002 TC₃₀₂

• 1150 +/-325 Km
• 55.02 (39.06 to 70.98) AU from Sol
• 408.13 years

(26375) 1999 DE₉

• 461 +/-45 Km
• 55.655 (32.324 to 78.987) AU from Sol
• 415.21 years
• Resonant Trans-Neptunian Object

2004 XR₁₉₀ "Buffy"

• 335-850 Km
• 57.05 (52.316 to 61.78) AU from Sol
• 430.91 years
• With an inclination of 47 degrees, it is the most "tilted" object discovered thus far, traveling further "up and down" than "left to right" around the Sun when viewed edge-on along the ecliptic.

Eris

• 1300 +200/-100 Km. (#17)
• 67.69 (37.77 to 97.56) AU from Sol
• 557 year orbit

  ---

• Dysnomia

  • 50-150 Km
  • 37,370 +/-150 Km
  • 15.78 days

1996 TL₆₆

• 575 +/-115 Km
• 82.90 (35.03 to 130.77) AU from Sol
• 754.83 years

65489 Ceto

• 172+/-18 Km
• 101.14 (17.858 to 184.422) AU from Sol
• 1,017.17 years
• forms a binary Centaur system with:
  • (65489) Ceto I- 134+/-14; orbits at 1,841+/-48 Km every 9.554 days.

2000 CR₁₀₅

• 253 Km
• 218.9 (44.1 to 393.8) AU from Sol
• 3,240.91 years

2004 VN₁₁₂

• 130-300 Km
• 326.2 (47.32 to 605.1) AU from Sol
• 5,892 years
• Similar orbit to Sedna.

(87269) 2000 OO₆₇

• 28-87 Km
• 544.482 (20.766 to 1068.199) AU from Sol
• 12,705.27 years

90377 Sedna

• 1,200 to 1,600 Km
• 525.86 (76.156 to 975.56) AU from Sol
• 12,059 years

2006 SQ₃₇₂

• 50-100 Km
• 1014.777 (24.17 to 2005.38) AU from Sol
• 32,326.21 years
• could possibly be a comet or it may have formed from debris just beyond Neptune [in the Kuiper belt] and been 'kicked' into it's distant orbit by a planet like Neptune or Uranus.

Oort Cloud

• The Oort cloud (sometimes called the Opik-Oort Cloud) is thought to comprise two separate regions: a spherical outer Oort cloud and a donought shaped inner Oort cloud, or Hills cloud.
  
  
  Inner Oort Cloud (Hill's Cloud)
  • estimated at 2,000 AU (50 to 3,000 AU) to 20,000 AU from Sol.
  • predicted to have tens or hundreds times as many cometary nuclei as the outer halo.
  • seen as a possible source of new comets to resupply the relatively tenuous outer cloud as the latter's numbers are gradually depleted.
    
    Outer Oort Cloud
  • estimated at 20,000 to 50,000 AU from Sol. (Some estimates put the outer edge at between 100,000 and 200,000 AU. This is approximately 1000 times the distance from the Sun to Pluto, or roughly one light year; almost a quarter of the distance from the Sun to Proxima Centauri, the star nearest the Sun!)
  • is only weakly bound to the Sun and supplies the long-period (and possibly Halley-type) comets to inside the orbit of Neptune.
  • is believed to contain several trillion individual comet nuclei larger than approximately 1.3 Km, with neighboring comets typically tens of millions of kilometres apart.
  
  
• The outer extent of the Oort cloud defines the gravitational boundary of our Solar System.
• the vast majority of Oort cloud objects consist of various ices such as water, methane, ethane, carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide. However, the discovery of the object 1996 PW, an asteroid in an orbit more typical of a long-period comet, suggests that the cloud may also be home to rocky objects.
• It is thought that other stars are likely to possess Oort clouds of their own, and that the outer edges of two nearby stars' Oort clouds may sometimes overlap, causing the occasional intrusion of a comet into the inner solar system. The star with the greatest possibility of perturbing the Oort cloud in the next 10 million years is Gliese 710.

• List of periodic comets
• List of non-periodic comets

Heliosphere

• The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the interstellar medium by the solar wind. Although electrically neutral atoms from interstellar space can penetrate this bubble, virtually all of the material in the heliosphere emanates from the Sun itself.
• For the first ten billion kilometres of its radius, the solar wind travels at over a million kilometres per hour. As it begins to collide with the interstellar medium, it slows down before finally ceasing altogether.

Termination shock

• the point in the heliosphere where the solar wind slows down to subsonic speed (with respect to the star) due to interactions with the local interstellar medium. This causes compression, heating, and a change in the magnetic field.
• believed to be 75 to 90 AU from Sol. The termination shock boundary fluctuates in its distance from the sun as a result of fluctuations in solar flare activity.
• The shock arises because solar wind particles are emitted from stars at about 400 km/s, while the speed of sound (in the interstellar medium) is about 100 km/s. (The exact speed depends on the density, which fluctuates considerably.)
• Evidence suggests that the Voyager 1 spacecraft passed termination shock in December 2004, when it was about 94 AU from the sun. Voyager 2 began detecting returning particles when it was only 76 AU from the sun, in May 2006. This implies that the heliosphere may be irregularly shaped, bulging outwards in the sun's northern hemisphere and pushed inward in the south.

Heliosheath

• The heliosheath is the zone between the termination shock and the heliopause at the outer border of the solar system. It lies along the edge of the heliosphere, a "bubble" caused by solar winds.
• Estimated to be 80 to 100 AU from Sol; at it's closest.
• is shaped like the coma of a comet, and trails several times that distance in the direction opposite to the Sun's path through space.
• At its windward side, its thickness is estimated to be between 10 and 100 AU.

Heliopause

• The heliopause is the theoretical boundary where the Sun's solar wind is stopped by the Interstellar medium.
• The solar wind blows a "bubble" known as the heliosphere in the interstellar medium (the rarefied hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the galaxy). The outer border of this "bubble" is where the solar wind's strength is no longer great enough to push back the interstellar medium. This is known as the heliopause, and is often considered to be the outer border of the solar system.
• Outside the heliopause, the interaction between the interstellar medium and the heliopause produces the bow shock, a turbulent region in front of the Sun's progress through the interstellar medium.
• The distance to the heliopause is not precisely known. It is probably much smaller on the side of the solar system facing the orbital motion through the galaxy. It may also vary depending on the current velocity of the solar wind and the local density of the interstellar medium.
• When particles emitted by the sun bump into the interstellar ones, they slow down while releasing energy (warming up). Many particles accumulate in and around the heliopause, highly energised by their negative acceleration, creating a shock wave. An alternative definition is that the heliopause is the magnetopause between the solar system's magnetosphere and the galaxy's plasma currents.

Bowshock

• Believed to lie at around 230 AU from the Sun.
• Hypothesized that the Sun also has a bowshock produced in its travels within the interstellar medium. The shock is named from its resemblance to the wake left by a ship's bow and is formed for similar reasons, though of plasma instead of water. Bowshocks will occur if the interstellar medium is moving supersonically 'toward' the sun, since its solar wind moves 'away' from the sun supersonically. When the interstellar wind hits the heliosphere it slows and creates a region of turbulence.

REFERENCES and INVALUABLE INPUTERS