307261 Máni

Common card · No. 247197

307261 Máni (provisional designation 2002 MS4) is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt, a region of icy planetesimals beyond Neptune. It was discovered on 18 June 2002 by Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown during their search for Pluto-sized Kuiper belt objects at Palomar Observatory, and went unnamed until 2025, when it was named after the personification of the Moon in Norse mythology. With a diameter of about 800 km (500 mi), Máni is large enough that it might be a dwarf planet, though its irregular shape suggests that (as with the asteroid Vesta) this may not be the case. Máni is suspected to have one large moon, although it has not been confirmed with direct observations. The surface is dark gray and is composed of water and carbon dioxide ices. Máni has been observed making stellar occultations, which revealed massive topographic features along the outline of its shape. These features include a mountain-like peak that is 25 km (16 mi) tall and a crater-like depression that...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Michael E. Brown/STScI/NASA, Public domain