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Revision as of 13:24, 30 July 2005 by Jyril (talk | contribs) (added info on the Spitzer detection)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)2005 FY9 is a very large Kuiper belt object discovered on March, 2005 by the NEAT team and 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, 2003 EL61 and 2003 UB313.
The designation 2005 FY9 is only provisional. Given the importance of the object and the fact that it may be found on older photographs, it may receive a proper name soon.
2005 FY9 was detected by the Spitzer space telescope. Initial estimations give a diameter of 50% to 75% that of Pluto. Therefore it similar in size to 2003 EL61, although brighter. This makes it the largest Kuiper belt object after 2003 UB313 and Pluto.
The object orbits the Sun every 308 years. Like Pluto's, its orbit is somewhat eccentric and inclined.