plutino
Orcus
A large plutino often called the "anti-Pluto": its orbit mirrors Pluto's, but it is always on the opposite side of the Sun.
- Distance from Earth today
- 7.26 billion km48.56 AU · light: 6 h 44 min
- Distance from the Sun today
- 7.18 billion km47.98 AU
- As of
- 2 November 2026position from NASA/JPL orbital elements
Where it is today
Top view of the plane of Earth’s orbit, compressed distance scale. Open on the big map with the time slider →
Facts
- Rotation period
- 13.2 h
- Semi-major axis
- 39.40 AU (5.89 billion km)
- Perihelion
- 30.73 AU
- Aphelion
- 48.06 AU
- Orbital period
- 247.3 years
- Orbital eccentricity
- 0.220
- Orbital inclination
- 20.6°
- Perihelion passage
- 30 September 2143
- Minimum orbit distance from Earth’s orbit (MOID)
- 29.74 AU (4.45 billion km)
Source of the figures: JPL Small-Body Database (public domain).
Discovery: 2004 – Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo
Description
Orcus is a large trans-Neptunian object discovered in 2004 by Michael Brown and Chad Trujillo. Like Pluto, it is a plutino, locked in the same orbital resonance with Neptune, and its orbit is similar in size and tilt to Pluto's, yet the two are always on roughly opposite sides of the Sun – which earned it the nickname "anti-Pluto". Its surface shows water ice. Orcus has a relatively large moon, Vanth, and their pairing echoes Pluto and Charon. Fittingly, Orcus is named after an underworld god of Roman and Etruscan mythology.