View source for Astronomy:(181708) 1993 FW

{{Infobox planet
 | minorplanet=yes 
 | background=#C2E0FF
 | name=(181708) 1993 FW
 | discovery_ref=
 | discoverer=[[Biography:David C. Jewitt|David C. Jewitt]],<br />Jane X. Luu
 | discovered=28 March 1993
 | alt_names=
 | mp_category=[[Astronomy:Trans-Neptunian object|Trans-Neptunian object]]<br />(cubewano)<ref name="Buie">{{cite web
  |author=Marc W. Buie
  |title=Orbit Fit and Astrometric record for 181708
  |publisher=SwRI (Space Science Department)
  |url=http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~buie/kbo/astrom/181708.html
  |accessdate=2018-02-18}}</ref>
 | epoch=13 January 2016 ([[Astronomy:Julian day|JD]] 2457400.5)<ref name=jpl>{{cite web|title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser|publisher=[[Organization:Jet Propulsion Laboratory|Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]|url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=181708|accessdate=7 April 2016}}</ref>
 | semimajor={{Convert|43.967|AU|Tm|abbr=on}}
 | perihelion={{Convert|41.642|AU|Tm|abbr=on}}
 | aphelion={{Convert|46.293|AU|Tm|abbr=on|lk=on}}
 | eccentricity=0.052899
 | period=291.54 [[Astronomy:Julian year|yr]] (106487 [[Astronomy:Julian year|d]])
 | inclination=7.7336°
 | asc_node=187.837°
 | arg_peri=40.180°
 | mean_anomaly=351.305[[Degree (angle)|°]]
 | avg_speed=4.489 km/s
 | dimensions=175 km<ref name=johnston>{{cite web|title=List of Known Trans-Neptunian Objects |publisher=Wm. Robert Johnston |url=http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/index.html |accessdate=2015-01-03 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109112556/http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/index.html |archivedate=2015-01-09 |url-status=live }}</ref>
241 km<ref name=brown>{{cite web|title=How many dwarf planets are there in the outer solar system?|publisher=Mike Brown|url=http://web.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/dps.html|accessdate=2015-01-03}}</ref>
 | mass=
 | density=
 | surface_grav=
 | escape_velocity=
 | rotation=
 | spectral_type=
 | albedo=
 | magnitude=
 | abs_magnitude=7.0
 | single_temperature=
 | mean_motion={{Deg2DMS|0.0033807|sup=ms}} / day
 | orbit_ref=<ref name=jpl />
 | observation_arc=5456 days (14.94 yr)
 | uncertainty=3
 | jupiter_moid={{Convert|36.2333|AU|Tm|abbr=on}}
}}
'''(181708) 1993 FW''' (provisional designation '''{{mp|1993 FW|}}''') is a cubewano and was the second [[Astronomy:Trans-Neptunian object|trans-Neptunian object]] to be discovered after [[Astronomy:Pluto|Pluto]] and [[Astronomy:Charon (moon)|Charon]], the first having been [[Astronomy:15760 Albion|15760 Albion]], formerly known as {{mpl|15760|1992 QB|1}}. It was discovered in 1993 by [[Biography:David C. Jewitt|David C. Jewitt]] and Jane X. Luu at the [[Astronomy:Mauna Kea Observatory|Mauna Kea Observatory]], Hawaii.<ref>{{cite journal|title=1993 FW|author=B.S. Marsden|publisher=[[Organization:Minor Planet Center|Minor Planet Center]]|bibcode=1993IAUC.5730....1L|date=1993|author2=Jewitt, D.|author3=Marsden, B. G.|volume=5730|page=1|journal=IAU Circ.}}</ref> Following its discovery it was nicknamed "Karla" after a character by John le Carré by its discoverers<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite news |title=Space body given name of Le Carre character: Astronomers discover planetesimal Karla |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/space-body-given-name-of-le-carre-character-astronomers-discover-planetesimal-karla-1456581.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/space-body-given-name-of-le-carre-character-astronomers-discover-planetesimal-karla-1456581.html |archive-date=2022-05-01 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |newspaper=The Independent |date=April 20, 1993}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and was hailed as that of a new planet.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/earth0000coot|title=The earth|author=Coote, Roger|date=August 2008|isbn=9781842399491|location=London|publisher=Alligator Books|oclc=671197414|url-access=registration}}</ref> [[Biography:Michael E. Brown|Mike Brown]] lists it as possibly a dwarf planet on his website.<ref name=brown/>

181708 was discovered half a year after Albion.<ref name="Eicher">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvI0AgAAQBAJ&q=%28181708%29+1993+FW+paper&pg=PA127|title=COMETS!: Visitors from Deep Space|last=Eicher|first=David J.|date=2013-09-23|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-51350-1|language=en}}</ref>

Over one thousand bodies were found in a belt orbiting between about 30-50 AU from the Sun in the twenty years (1992-2012), after finding 1992 QB1 (named in 2018, 15760 Albion), showing a vast belt of bodies more than just Pluto and Albion.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.astrobio.net/also-in-news/the-kuiper-belt-at-20/|title=The Kuiper Belt at 20|date=2012-09-01|website=Astrobiology Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-01}}</ref><ref name=":0" />  By 2018, over 2000 Kuiper belts objects were discovered.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/792/10-things-to-know-about-the-kuiper-belt|title=10 Things to Know About the Kuiper Belt|last=Dyches|first=Preston|website=NASA Solar System Exploration|access-date=2019-12-01}}</ref>

The mid-1990s were a time when the new region "came to life", triggering a retrospective of various predictions about second asteroid or comet belts in the outer solar system.<ref name="Eicher"/>

Three more KBOs found in 1993 are [[Astronomy:(15788) 1993 SB|(15788) 1993 SB]],<ref name="MPEC2010-B62">{{Cite web
   |title=MPEC 2010-B62 :Distant Minor Planets (2010 FEB. 13.0 TT)
   |date=2010-01-30
   |publisher=Minor Planet Center
   |url=https://minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K10/K10B62.html
   |accessdate=2010-02-20}}</ref> [[Astronomy:(15789) 1993 SC|(15789) 1993 SC]], and [[Astronomy:(385185) 1993 RO|(385185) 1993 RO]].

==See also==
*[[Astronomy:15760 Albion|15760 Albion]]
*[[Astronomy:List of trans-Neptunian objects|List of trans-Neptunian objects]]
*[[Astronomy:Kuiper belt|Kuiper belt]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links==
* {{JPL small body|id=181708}}

{{Small Solar System bodies}}
{{Trans-Neptunian objects}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1993 FW}}
[[Category:Classical Kuiper belt objects|181708]]

{{Sourceattribution|(181708) 1993 FW}}