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120347 Salacia

9/3/2026

120347 Salacia

120347 Salacia (provisional designation 2004 SB60) is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on 22 September 2004 by American astronomers Henry G. Roe, Michael E. Brown, and Kristina Barkume using the Hale Reflector at the Palomar Observatory. Its discovery was officially announced in May 2005. Salacia orbits the Sun at an average distance slightly greater than that o

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120347 Salacia (provisional designation 2004 SB60) is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered on 22 September 2004 by American astronomers Henry G. Roe, Michael E. Brown, and Kristina Barkume using the Hale Reflector at the Palomar Observatory. Its discovery was officially announced in May 2005. Salacia orbits the Sun at an average distance slightly greater than that of Pluto, and is classified as a hot cubewano or a scattered–extended object. It was named after the Roman sea goddess Salacia. Salacia is a possible dwarf planet with an estimated diameter of 838±44 km, and a low light curve, implying a nearly spherical shape. While older size estimates suggested a low density and highly porous interior, newer measurements calculate a higher density between 1.45 g/cm3 and 1.50±0.12 g/cm3. It has a dark gray surface with a neutral color index and an exceptionally low albedo of 0.041±0.004. This low albedo indicates a lack of geological activity. Observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) showed that water ice makes up less than 5% of its surface, detecting both amorphous and crystalline water ice alongside carbon dioxide ice. It lacks volatile super-ices like methane, placing it in the "prominent water" (H2O-type) TNO group alongside objects like 307261 Máni and 90482 Orcus. Salacia has one known moon, Actaea, and their combined system mass is 4.861+0.076−0.074×1020 kg. The primary body and its moon form a fully tidally locked system with a synchronous rotation period of 5.49 days, similar to the Pluto–Charon system. The two bodies will pass directly in front of each other during a rare mutual occultation season starting in 2067.

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This article is an automated import of the Wikipedia article "120347 Salacia", available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/120347_Salacia . Text is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.