Answer 1:
(Year 2002) I assume you are talking about the
Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) known (unofficially, I
guess) as Quaoar (a 288 yr. circular orbit).
This object seems to be the
largest solar system object discovered since Pluto
was detected in 1930.
Based on the info in the article from
ScienceNews ,
and using our knowledge that the earth is one AU
(astronomical unit) from the sun and orbits the
Sun in one year, we can calculate an estimated
distance using Kepler's third law:
(Rq / Re)3 = (Tq / Te )2
Where Te = 1 yr. (Earth's orbit time)
Tq = 288 yr. (Quaoar's orbit time)
Re = 1 AU (mean Earth-Sun distance)
So Rq = 43.6 AU (Quaoar's mean distance from
the sun)
Pluto is about 39.5 AU from the Sun, by the
way.
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