List of the brightest Kuiper belt objects

Since the year 2000, a number of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) with diameters of between 500 and 1500 km (more than half that of Pluto) have been discovered. 50000 Quaoar, a classical KBO discovered in 2002, is over 1200 km across. Makemake and Haumea, both announced on 29 July 2005, are larger still. Other objects, such as 28978 Ixion (discovered in 2001) and 20000 Varuna (discovered in 2000) measure roughly 500 km across.^[1] This has led gradually to the acceptance of Pluto as the largest member of the Kuiper belt.

The brightest known dwarf planets and other KBOs (with absolute magnitudes < 4.0), are:

Permanent Designation	Provisional Designation	Absolute magnitude	Albedo (%)[2]	Equatorial diameter (km)[2]	Semimajor axis (AU)	Date found	Discoverer	Diameter method
Pluto[3]		-1.0	60	2370.	39.4	1930	C. Tombaugh	occultation
Makemake	2005 FY9[4]	-0.3	80. +10.−20.	1500. -200+400	45.7	2005	M. Brown, C. Trujillo & D. Rabinowitz	Thermal
Haumea	2003 EL61[5]	0.1	84. +10−20	1150. -100+250	43.3	2005	Sierra Nevada Observatory, Spain[6]	Thermal
Charon[7]	S/1978 P 1	1	40	1205.	39.4	1978	J. Christy	occultation
Orcus	2004 DW	2.3	19.72 +3.40−2.76	946.3 -72.3+74.1	39.4	2004	M. Brown, C. Trujillo & D. Rabinowitz	Thermal
Quaoar	2002 LM60	2.6	19.9 +13.2−7.	844. -190+207 / 1260 ± 190	43.5	2002	C. Trujillo & M. Brown	Disk resolved/thermal
Ixion	2001 KX76	3.2	12 +14−6	650. -220+260	39.6	2001	DES	Thermal
278361	2007 JJ43	3.2[8]			47.8	2007	Palomar Observatory
55636	2002 TX300	3.3	10. or more	800. or less	43.1	2002	NEAT	Thermal
55565	2002 AW197	3.3	11.77 +4.42−3.00	734.6 -108.3+116.4	47.4	2002	C. Trujillo, M. Brown, E. Helin, Steven H. Pravdo, K. Lawrence & Michael D. Hicks; Palomar Observatory	Thermal
55637	2002 UX25	3.6	11.50 +5.09−3.09	681.2 -114.0+115.6	42.5	2002	Anne S. Descour; Spacewatch	Thermal
Varuna	2000 WR106	3.7	16. +10−8	500. -100+100	43.0	2000	R. McMillan	Thermal
307261	2002 MS4	3.8	08.41 +3.78−2.26	726.2 -122.9+123.2	41.8	2002	C. Trujillo, M. Brown	Thermal
471143	2010 EK139[8]	3.8	25 +0.02-0.05	470 +35-10	40.5	2010	A. Udalski, S. Sheppard, M. Kubiak, and C. Trujillo	Thermal
208996	2003 AZ84[9]	3.9	12.32 +4.31−2.91	685.8 -95.5+98.8	39.6	2003	C. Trujillo, M. Brown, E. Helin, Steven H. Pravdo, K. Lawrence & Michael D. Hicks	Thermal
	2010 KZ39[8]	3.9			45.8	2010	A. Udalski, S. Sheppard, M. Szymanski, and C. Trujillo

See also

• List of trans-Neptunian objects

References

1. Audrey Delsanti & David Jewitt. "The Solar System Beyond The Planets" (PDF). Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-01-29. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
2. John Stansberry; Will Grundy; Mike Brown; Dale Cruikshank; John Spencer; David Trilling; Jean-Luc Margot (2007). "Physical Properties of Kuiper Belt and Centaur Objects: Constraints from Spitzer Space Telescope". arXiv:astro-ph/0702538.
3. NASA Pluto planetary factsheet accessed on July 1, 2007
4. "MPEC 2005-O42 : 2005 FY9". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
5. Wm. Robert Johnston. "(136108) 2003 EL61, S/2005 (2003 EL61) 1, and S/2005 (2003 EL61) 2". Retrieved 2007-07-01.
6. "MPEC 2005-O36 : 2003 EL61".
7. Wm. Robert Johnston. "Pluto, Charon, Nix, and Hydra". Retrieved 2007-07-01.
8. http://arxiv.org/pdf/1107.5309v1.pdf
9. "MPEC 2003-B27 : 2003 AZ84". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 2007-07-02.