A portrait of the extreme solar system object 2012 DRˇ30

Kiss, Csaba and Szabó M., Gyula and Horner, J. and Conn, B. C. and Müller, T. G. and Vilenius, E. and Sárneczky, Krisztián and Kiss, L. László and Bannister, M. and Bayliss, D. and Pál, András and Góbi, Sándor and Verebélyi, Erika and Lellouch, E. and Santos-Sanz, P. and Ortiz, J. L. and Duffard, R. and Morales, N. (2013) A portrait of the extreme solar system object 2012 DRˇ30. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 555. ISSN 0004-6361

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Abstract

2012 DR30 is a recently discovered Solar System object on a unique orbit, with a high eccentricity of 0.9867, a perihelion distance of 14.54 AU and a semi-major axis of 1109 AU, in this respect outscoring the vast majority of trans-Neptunian objects. We performed Herschel/PACS and opti- cal photometry to uncover the size and albedo of 2012 DR30, together with its thermal and surface properties. The body is 185 km in diameter and has a relatively low V-band geometric albedo of ∼8%. Although the colours of the object indicate that 2012 DR30 is an RI taxonomy class TNO or Centaur, we detected an absorption feature in the Z-band that is uncommon among these bodies. A dynamical analysis of the target’s orbit shows that 2012 DR30 moves on a relatively unstable orbit and was most likely only recently placed on its current orbit from the most distant and still highly unexplored regions of the Solar System. If categorised on dynamical grounds 2012 DR30 is the largest Damocloid and/or high inclination Centaur observed so far.

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