Quaoar

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Quaoar (minor-planet number 50000) is a ringed dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a band of icy planetesimals beyond Neptune. It has an ellipsoidal shape with an average diameter of about 1,100 km (680 mi), about half the size of the dwarf planet Pluto. The object was discovered by American astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown at Palomar Observatory on 4 June 2002. Quaoar has a reddish surface made of crystalline water ice, tholins, and traces of frozen methane. Quaoar has two thin rings orbiting outside its Roche limit, which defies theoretical expectations that rings outside the Roche limit should be unstable. Quaoar has one moon named Weywot and a potential second moon that has not yet been confirmed. It is believed that Quaoar's elongated shape, gravitational influence of its moon(s), and extremely cold temperature help keep its rings stable.

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