2012 VP₁₁₃

2012 VP₁₁₃ is the minor planet with the farthest known perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in the Solar System, greater than Sedna's.[12] Though its perihelion is farther, 2012 VP₁₁₃ has an aphelion only about half of Sedna's. It is the second discovered sednoid, with semi-major axis beyond 150 AU and perihelion greater than 50 AU. The similarity of the orbit of 2012 VP₁₁₃ to other known extreme trans-Neptunian objects led Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo to suggest that an undiscovered object, Planet Nine, in the outer Solar System is shepherding these distant objects into similar type orbits.[8]

It has an absolute magnitude of 4.0,[1] which makes it likely to be a dwarf planet,[9] and it is accepted as a dwarf planet by some.[13] It is expected to be about half the size of Sedna and similar in size to Huya.[7] Its surface is thought to have a pink tinge, resulting from chemical changes produced by the effect of radiation on frozen water, methane, and carbon dioxide.[14] This optical color is consistent with formation in the gas-giant region and not the classical Kuiper belt, which is dominated by ultra-red colored objects.[8]

2012 VP₁₁₃ has the largest perihelion distance of any known object in the Solar System.[16] Its last perihelion was around 1979,[lower-alpha 1] at a distance of 80 AU;[3] it is currently 84 AU from the Sun. As of 2018, only nine other Solar System objects are known to have perihelia larger than 47 AU: Sedna (76 AU), 2014 FZ71 (56 AU), 2014 FC72 (52 AU), 2004 XR190 (51 AU), 2015 FJ345 (51 AU), 2013 SY99 (50 AU), 2010 GB174 (49 AU), 2014 SR349 (48 AU) and (474640) 2004 VN112 (47 AU).[16] The paucity of bodies with perihelia at 50–75 AU appears not to be an observational artifact.[8]

It is possibly a member of a hypothesized Hills cloud.[7][15][17] It has a perihelion, argument of perihelion, and current position in the sky similar to those of Sedna.[7] In fact, all known Solar System bodies with semi-major axes over 150 AU and perihelia greater than Neptune's have arguments of perihelion clustered near 340°±55°.[8] This could indicate a similar formation mechanism for these bodies.[8] (148209) 2000 CR105 was the first such object discovered.

It is currently unknown how 2012 VP₁₁₃ acquired a perihelion distance beyond the Kuiper belt. The characteristics of its orbit, like those of Sedna's, have been explained as possibly created by a passing star or a trans-Neptunian planet of several Earth masses hundreds of astronomical units from the Sun.[18] The orbital architecture of the trans-Plutonian region may signal the presence of more than one planet.[19][20] 2012 VP₁₁₃ could even be captured from another planetary system.[13] However, it is considered more likely that the perihelion of 2012 VP₁₁₃ was raised by multiple interactions within the crowded confines of the open star cluster in which the Sun formed.[7]

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  Simulated view showing the orbit of 2012 VP₁₁₃
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  2012 VP113 orbit in white with hypothetical Planet Nine
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  The orbits of known distant objects with large aphelion distances over 200 AU

• List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun in 2015
• 90377 Sedna (relatively large and also distant body)
• 541132 Leleākūhonua (distant sednoid)
• List of hyperbolic comets

Other large aphelion objects

• 2012 DR30 (15–2880 AU)
• 2005 VX3 (4–1630 AU)
• 2013 BL76 (8–1870 AU)
• 2014 FE72 (36–2680 AU)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2012 VP113.

• 2012 VP113 Inner Oort Cloud Object Discovery Images from Scott S. Sheppard/Carnegie Institution for Science.
• 2012 VP113 has Q=460 ± 30 (mpml: CFHT 2011-Oct-22 precovery)
• List of Known Trans-Neptunian Objects, Johnston's Archive
• List Of Centaurs and Scattered-Disk Objects, Minor Planet Center
• 2012 VP113 at the JPL Small-Body Database
  • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters