Quaoar

American  

[kwah-wahr] / ˈkwɑ wɑr /

noun

1. Astronomy. a dwarf planet with rings found in the Kuiper belt.

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Quaoar Scientific  

/ kwä′ə-wär′ /

1. A Kuiper belt object that, with a diameter of about 1,288 km (800 mi), is the largest such object so far discovered. Quaoar is approximately the size of Charon, Pluto's moon, and has a nearly circular orbit at a distance of some 1.6 billion km (1 billion mi) beyond that of Pluto.

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Example Sentences

Another occultation occurred on Aug. 9 last year, and astronomers again pointed telescopes, large and small, at Quaoar in hopes of learning more about the ring.

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2023

Like the first ring around Quaoar, announced by a team of astronomers in February, the second ring lies beyond what is known as the Roche limit.

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2023

"It was previously thought to be impossible to have rings that far out, so in a nutshell, the ring of Quaoar is a real challenge to explain theoretically."

From Scientific American • Feb. 11, 2023

The ring became visible when it caused a roughly 5% to 10% dip in light from a background star, both before and after the main body of Quaoar passed in front of the star.

From Scientific American • Feb. 11, 2023

From 2018 through 2021, Quaoar passed in front of four stars, and astronomers on Earth were able to observe the shadow of the eclipses, also known as stellar occultations.

From New York Times • Feb. 8, 2023