120347 Salacia facts for kids
120347 Salacia is a small, icy world far beyond Neptune. It's part of a region called the Kuiper belt. Imagine a huge ring of icy objects orbiting the Sun past Neptune – that's the Kuiper belt! Salacia is about 850 kilometers wide. To give you an idea, that's roughly the distance from London to Paris and back again. In 2018, Salacia was about 44.8 astronomical units away from the Sun. One astronomical unit (AU) is the distance from the Earth to the Sun, so Salacia is really, really far out there!
Discovering Salacia
Salacia was found on September 22, 2004. Three American astronomers, Henry Roe, Michael Brown, and Kristina Barkume, discovered it. They used the Palomar Observatory in California, United States. Salacia got its name from Salacia, who was a Roman goddess of the sea. This distant object also has one known moon, which is called Actaea.
What Salacia Is Like
Salacia has an average density of 1.51 grams per cubic centimeter. This means it's a bit heavier than water. Scientists believe Salacia is about 846 kilometers wide. It also has a very low albedo. Albedo tells us how much sunlight an object reflects. A low albedo means Salacia is quite dark and doesn't reflect much light. In fact, it has one of the lowest albedos of any large object found so far in the Kuiper belt.
Images for kids
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The orbit of Salacia is similar to Pluto, except for a near opposite longitude of ascending node. Its current position is near its most northern position above the ecliptic.
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Artistic model of Salacia and Actaea's near circular orbit viewed at an angle
See also
In Spanish: (120347) Salacia para niños
