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Revision as of 18:14, 1 August 2005
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Template:Minor Planet 2005 FY9 (2005 FY₉, also written 2005 FY9) is a very large Kuiper belt object discovered on March 31, 2005 by the team led by Michael Brown. Its discovery was announced on July 29, 2005 on the same day as two other very large trans-Neptunian objects, Template:Minplan and Template:Minplan.
The designation 2005 FY9 is only provisional. Given the importance of the object and the fact that it has been found on older photographs (precovered), it may receive a proper name soon.
2005 FY9 was detected by the Spitzer space telescope. Initial estimates gave a diameter of 50% to 75% that of Pluto. Therefore it is similar in size to 2003 EL61, although brighter. This makes it the largest Kuiper belt object after 2003 UB313 and Pluto. Isaac Asimov suggested the term mesoplanet be used for planetary objects intermediate in size between Mercury and 1 Ceres, which would include all four of these objects.
The object orbits the Sun every 308 years. Like Pluto's, its orbit is somewhat eccentric and inclined.