Celestial Objects

Quaoar

Dwarf Planets

Citation Formats

General Reference

Space and Astronomy Atlas. "Quaoar." Accessed September 2, 2026. https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/celestial-objects/50000-quaoar.

APA Style

Space and Astronomy Atlas. (n.d.). Quaoar. Retrieved September 2, 2026, from https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/celestial-objects/50000-quaoar

BibTeX

@misc{spaceandastronomyatlas-quaoar,
  author = {Space and Astronomy Atlas},
  title = {Quaoar},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/celestial-objects/50000-quaoar},
  note = {Accessed September 2, 2026}
}

Quaoar is a ringed dwarf planet candidate in the Kuiper belt, the band of icy planetesimals beyond Neptune, with a slightly ellipsoidal shape and an average diameter of about 1,100 kilometers, roughly half the size of Pluto. It was discovered by the American astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown at Palomar Observatory on 4 June 2002, and its reddish surface is made up of crystalline water ice, tholins, and traces of frozen methane.

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