TNOs and Centaurs with Satellites

The table below lists all the currently know objects with satellites in the Kuiper belt or the Centaur region and some of the known parameters. A reference list of papers regarding satellites (specific objects, formation theories, etc.) follows the table.

a, e, i: heleocentric elements
a', e', i': satellite system elements
s: separation at time of discovery
dMag: magnitude difference (typically R-band, I assume)
P: orbital period

Note: the text ``(unconfirmed)'' under an object's name implies that the object is suspected to have a satellite, i.e., it was seen to be elongated but seprate co-moving components have not yet been resolved.

The object names are links to the ephemerides provided by the CBAT list of observable distant minor planets, so objects currently not observable will not have viable links to ephemerides.

Current Tally: 39 satellites around 35 main bodies (~2.6% of known objects)

Object	a [AU]	e	i [deg]	a' [km]	e'	i' [deg]	s [arcsec]	dMag	P [days]	M₁+M₂ [gm]	Links	Papers
Pluto and Charon, Nix, and Hydra	39.2	0.24	17.2	19,600	0.0	96.2	0.9	3.2	6.4	1.4x10²⁵	IAUC 03241 IAUC 03509 IAUC 08625 Additional information	Too numerous to list. Look here.
1998 WW31	44.9	0.08	6.8	22,300	0.82	41.7	1.2	0.4	574	2.7x10²¹	IAUC 07610 STScI Press Release Additional information	V+02
2001 QT297	44.0	0.03	2.6	31,400	0.31	128	0.6	0.55	876	3.2x10²¹	IAUC 07733	OKE04
2001 QW322	43.9	0.03	4.8	?	?	?	4.0	0.4	?	?	IAUC 07749 MPEC 2001-V34 Additional information
(47171) 1999 TC36	39.6	0.23	8.4	?	?	?	0.37	2.21	?	?	IAUC 07787 IAUC 07807 Additional information
(26308) 1998 SM165	47.9	0.37	13.5	?	?	?	0.23	1.9	?	?	IAUC 07807 Additional information
1997 CQ29	45.3	0.12	2.9	8,000	0.45? 0.37?	122? 69?	0.17	0.4	312	4.2x10²⁰	IAUC 07824 IAUC 07959	N+02, N+04b
2000 CF105	44.1	0.04	0.5	?	?	?	0.78	0.9	?	?	IAUC 07857 IAUC 07962	N+02
2001 QC298 (unconfirmed)	46.3	0.12	30.6	?	?	?	0.17	?	?	?	IAUC 08034
(66652) 1999 RZ253	43.8	0.09	0.6	4,660	0.46	152? 51?	0.21	0.3	46.3	3.7x10²¹	IAUC 08143	N+04a
2003 QY90 (unconfirmed)	42.7	0.05	3.8	?	?	?	0.34	0.1	?	?	IAUC 08235
2003 UN284	42.9	0.01	3.1	?	?	?	2.01	0.6	?	?	IAUC 08251
2000 CQ114	46.2	0.12	2.7	?	?	?	0.18	0.5	?	?	IAUC 08289
2003 EL61	43.1	0.19	28.2	49,500	0.05	234.8	0.63	3.3	49.1	4.2x10²¹	IAUC 08577
2003 EL61	43.1	0.19	28.2	39,300	?	?	0.3	4.6	34.1	?	IAUC 08636
2003 UB313	68.0	0.44	43.9	?	?	?	0.53	0.02	?	?	IAUC 8610
2002 CR46	37.9	0.54	2.4	?	?	?	0.11	1.2	?	?	CBET 401 IAUC 8689
(60458) 2000 CM114	59.7	0.41	19.7	?	?	?	0.073	0.5	?	?	IAUC 8689
2003 QW111	43.8	0.12	2.7	?	?	?	0.325	?	?	?	IAUC 8745
2000 QL251	47.9	0.22	3.7	?	?	?	0.261	0	?	?	IAUC 8746
(120347) 2004 SB60	42.1	0.10	23.9	?	?	?	0.110	2.3	?	?	IAUC 8751
(65489) 2003 FX128	101.0	0.82	22.3	1841	< 0.014	68.8	~0.1	0.4	9.55	5.4x10²¹		G+07
(123509) 2000 WK183	44.7	0.05	2.0	?	?	?	0.080	0.4	?	?	IAUC 8811
(55637) 2002 UX25	42.9	0.14	19.4	?	?	?	0.164	2.5	?	?	IAUC 8812
(90482) Orcus	39.4	0.22	20.5	?	?	?	0.25	2.7	?	?	IAUC 8812
2003 AZ84	39.6	0.17	13.5	?	?	?	0.22	5.0	?	?	IAUC 8812
(50000) Quaoar	43.2	0.04	8.0	?	?	?	0.35	5.6	?	?	IAUC 8812
2002 WC19	48.2	0.26	9.2	?	?	?	0.090	2.5	?	?	IAUC 8814
2002 GZ31	50.2	0.24	1.1	?	?	?	0.070	1.0	?	?	IAUC 8815
2004 PB108	45.2	0.11	20.2	?	?	?	0.172	1.2	?	?	IAUC 8816
(60621) 2000 FE8	55.3	0.40	5.9	?	?	?	0.044	0.6	?	?	IAUC 8816
2006 SF369	63.2	0.38	27.6	?	?	?	0.109	<0.1	?	?	IAUC 8922
2007 TY430	39.5	0.27	11.3	?	?	?	0.6	<0.1	?	?	IAUC 8962
1998 WV24	39.2	0.04	1.5	?	?	?	0.051	<0.3	?	?	IAUC 8998
1999 XY143	43.3	0.08	7.1	?	?	?	0.085	0.38	?	?	IAUC 9075
1999 RY214	45.4	0.18	13.7	?	?	?	0.056	1.09	?	?	IAUC 9075
2002 VT130	42.7	0.03	1.2	?	?	?	0.082	0.44	?	?	IAUC 9075
2000 WT169	45.2	0.01	1.7	?	?	?	0.085	0.43	?	?	IAUC 9076
2003 YU179	47.1	0.17	4.8	?	?	?	0.067	1.3	?	?	IAUC 9076

References

GLS02: Goldreich, P., Lithwick, Y., & Sari, R. ``Formation of Kuiper-belt Binaries by Dynamical Friction and Three-body Encounters'' (2002 Nature, 420, 643-646)
G+07: W.M. Grundy, J.A. Stansberry, K.S. Noll, D.C. Stephens, D.E. Trilling, S.D. Kern, J.R. Spencer, D.P. Cruikshank, & H.F. Levison ``The Orbit, Mass, Size, Albedo, and Density of (65489)~Ceto-Phorcys: A Tidally-evolved Binary Centaur'' (2007 Icarus, submitted)
N+02: Noll, K. S.; Stephens, D. C.; Grundy, W. M.; Millis, R. L.; Spencer, J.; Buie, M. W.; Tegler, S. C.; Romanishin, W.; Cruikshank, D. P. ``Detection of Two Binary Trans-Neptunian Objects, 1997 CQ₂₉ and 2000 CF₁₀₅, with the Hubble Space Telescope'' (2002 Astronomical Journal, 124, 3424-3429)
N+04a: Noll, K. S.; Stephens, D. C.; Grundy, W. M.; Griffin, I. ``The Orbit, Mass, and Albedo of Transneptunian Binary 1999 RZ₂₅₃'' (2004 Astronomical Journal, in press)
N+04b: Noll, K. S.; Stephens, D. C.; Grundy, W. M.; Osip, D. J., Griffin, I. ``The Orbit and Albedo of Transneptunian Binary 1997 CQ₂₉'' (2004 Astronomical Journal, in press)
OKE04: Osip, D. J., Kern, S., D., Elliot, J. L. `` Physical Characterization of the Binary Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt Object 2001 QT₂₉₇'' (2004, Earth, Moon, and Planets, 92, 409)
S02: Stern, S. A. ``Implications Regarding the Energetics Of the Collisional Formation of Kuiper Belt Satellites'' (2002 Astronomical Journal, 124, 2300-2304)
V+02: Veillet, C.; Parker, J. W.; Griffin, I.; Marsden, B.; Doressoundiram, A.; Buie, M.; Tholen, D. J.; Connelley, M.; Holman, M. J. ``The Binary Kuiper-belt Object 1998 WW31'' (2002 Nature, 416, 711-713)
W02: Weidenschilling, S. J. ``On the Origin of Binary Transneptunian Objects'' (2002 Icarus, 160, 212-215)