Cubewano

A cubewano (also, classical Kuiper belt object), abbreviated CKBO (from English classical Kuiper belt object), is a trans-Neptunian object that evolves in the Kuiper belt. The peculiar name comes from the first object of this class, the 1992 QB1; subsequent objects of this class were first called the QB1-os, then "cubewanos". Indeed, QB-1, in English, is pronounced /kju:bi wʌn/.

These objects are located a great distance from Neptune and are not controlled by the gravitational forces of this planet or others. Their orbits, however, remain stable because they are almost circular, like those of the planets; this similarity with the planets is due to the name of "classical" objects; of the Kuiper belt. Its average radius of revolution is located between 42 and 48 AU. The theory of its formation is identical to that of the planets, by slow accretion of matter from the protoplanetary disk. However, the sparse matter density detected in this region leads some scientists to imagine that these objects would have formed closer to the Sun to later migrate to their current position, after the migration of Neptune.

Members of this family

• Albión is the first transneptunian object discovered from the discovery of Pluto and Caronte.
• Varuna (900 km), first large transneptunian object discovered in the belt.
• Quaoar, which was the largest known transneptunian object until the discovery of Sedna in 2003. It has a satellite, Weywot.
• 1998 WW31, which was the first known binary transneptunian object apart from Pluto and Caronte.
• (58534) Logos, Outstanding for owning a satellite, Zoé.
• 2014 MU69, provisionally called Ultima Thule, visited by the New Horizons probe in 2019.