https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50000_Quaoar
50000 Quaoar ("Kwawar") is a Kuiper belt object roughly half the size of Pluto. It is large enough and massive enough that it is probably a dwarf planet. Its orbit in the Kuiper belt is not in resonance with Neptune, which means it is a classical Kuiper belt object. Quaoar has one known moon, Weywot.
Quaoar was discovered in 2002 and its moon in 2007. It was named after the Tongva creator deity and its moon after his son.
Signs of water ice have been found, which suggests that cryovolcanism may be occurring. A small amount of methane is present on Quaoar's surface, which can only be retained by the largest Kuiper belt objects.
It was calculated that a flyby mission to Quaoar could take 13.57 years using a Jupiter gravity assist, based on launch dates of 25 December 2016, 22 November 2027, 22 December 2028, 22 January 2030 or 20 December 2040. Quaoar would be 41 to 43 AU from the Sun when the spacecraft arrives.
Global chart history
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