The DOI matches its Crossref record; 11 of the 11 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Discovery of a Candidate Inner Oort Cloud Planetoid
Open accessAbstract
We report the discovery of the minor planet (90377) Sedna, the most distant object ever seen in the solar system. Prediscovery images from 2001, 2002, and 2003 have allowed us to refine the orbit sufficiently to conclude that Sedna is on a highly eccentric orbit that permanently resides well beyond the Kuiper Belt with a semimajor axis of 480 ± 40 AU and a perihelion of 76 ± 4 AU. Such an orbit is unexpected in our current understanding of the solar system but could be the result of scattering by a yet-to-be-discovered planet, perturbation by an anomalously close stellar encounter, or formation of the solar system within a cluster of stars. In all of these cases a significant additional population is likely present, and in the two most likely cases Sedna is best considered a member of the inner Oort Cloud, which then extends to much smaller semimajor axes than previously expected. Continued discovery and orbital characterization of objects in this inner Oort Cloud will verify the genesis of this unexpected population.
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“the long-term modulation of scattered KBO eccentricities provides a natural explanation for the existence of the so-called distant detached objects such as Sedna and 2012 VP113 (Brown et al. 2004; Trujillo & Sheppard 2014).”
From Evidence for a Distant Giant Planet in the Solar System (2016) · cites this paper as Brown et al. 2004
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“Since the time of the discovery of Sedna, it has been clear that a large perturbing mass either is or was present in the outer solar system at some time (Brown et al. 2004).”
From Observational constraints on the orbit and location of Planet Nine in the outer solar system (2016) · cites this paper as Brown et al. 2004
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In the citing paper
“The orbit of the distant object Sedna (2003 VB12), on the other hand, which has perihelion distance of q = 76 AU, can only be explained by perturbations from an external agent.”
From The planet nine hypothesis (2019) · cites this paper as Brown et al. (2004)
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In the citing paper
“Notable exceptions to this rule of thumb include Sedna (Brown et al., 2004), 2012 VP113 (Trujillo and Sheppard, 2014), 2015 TG387 (Sheppard et al., 2018) which have q = 76 ; 80 ; and 65 AU respectively.”
From The planet nine hypothesis (2019) · cites this paper as Brown et al., 2004
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In the citing paper
“These anomalies include the striking alignment in the orientations of eccentric orbits in physical space, a common tilt of the orbital planes, perihelion distances that stretch far beyond the gravitational reach of Neptune, as well as excursions of trans-Neptunian objects into highly inclined, and even retrograde orbits.”
From The planet nine hypothesis (2019) · cites this paper as Brown et al. 2004
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In the citing paper
“These anomalies include the striking alignment in the orientations of eccentric orbits in physical space, a common tilt of the orbital planes, perihelion distances that stretch far beyond the gravitational reach of Neptune, as well as excursions of trans-Neptunian objects into highly inclined, and even retrograde orbits.”
From The planet nine hypothesis (2019) · cites this paper as Brown et al. 2004
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“Such an instrument would probe the ∼ 100 m size range at main belt distances and discover rare distant TNOs such as Sedna ( Brown et al. 2004 ) and 2012 VP113 ( Trujillo & Sheppard 2014 ) .”
From LSST: From Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products (2019) · cites this paper as Brown et al. 2004
In the citing paper
“Sedna ( Brown et al. 2004 ) would be detectable at 130 au.”
From LSST: From Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products (2019) · cites this paper as Brown et al. 2004
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Citations
Cites
The formation and extent of the solar system comet cloud
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Evidence for an Extended Scattered Disk
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“(Gladman et al. 2002), though more complicated interactions including migration can occasionally raise perihelia as high as ∼50AU (Gomes, 2004), sufficient to explain all of the known Kuiper belt objects.”
BackgroundOrbit Fitting and Uncertainties for Kuiper Belt Objects
Bernstein, G. M., & Khushalani, B. (2000) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.1086/316868 · Cited by 168
The Radial Distribution of the Kuiper Belt
Trujillo, C. A., & Brown, M. E. (2001) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/320917 · Cited by 141
Self-citationThe Formation of the Oort Cloud and the Primitive Galactic Environment
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The Caltech Wide Area Sky Survey
Trujillo, C. A., & Brown, M. E. (2003) · Earth Moon and Planets · doi:10.1023/b:moon.0000031929.19729.a1 · Cited by 68
Self-citationObservational Limits on a Distant Cold Kuiper Belt
Allen, R. L., Bernstein, G. M., & Malhotra, R. (2002) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.1086/343773 · Cited by 65
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Cited by
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LSST: From Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products
Ivezić, Ž., Kahn, S. M., Tyson, J. A., Abel, B., Acosta, E., Allsman, R., Alonso, D., AlSayyad, Y., Anderson, S. F., Andrew, J., et al. (2019) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab042c · Cited by 4,357
Self-citationTHE SPITZER c2d LEGACY RESULTS: STAR-FORMATION RATES AND EFFICIENCIES; EVOLUTION AND LIFETIMES
Evans, N., Dunham, M., Jørgensen, J., Enoch, M., Merín, B., van Dishoeck, E., Alcalá, J., Myers, P., Stapelfeldt, K., Huard, T., et al. (2008) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1088/0067-0049/181/2/321 · Cited by 1,279
THE LOW-LUMINOSITY END OF THE RADIUS-LUMINOSITY RELATIONSHIP FOR ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI
Bentz, M. C., Denney, K. D., Grier, C. J., Barth, A. J., Peterson, B. M., Vestergaard, M., Bennert, V. N., Canalizo, G., Rosa, G. D., Filippenko, A. V., et al. (2013) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/767/2/149 · Cited by 844
The Birth Environment of the Solar System
Adams, F. C. (2010) · Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081309-130830 · Cited by 464
THE NEXT GENERATION VIRGO CLUSTER SURVEY (NGVS). I. INTRODUCTION TO THE SURVEY*
Ferrarese, L., Côté, P., Cuillandre, J., Gwyn, S., Peng, E. W., MacArthur, L. A., Duc, P., Boselli, A., Mei, S., Erben, T., et al. (2012) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1088/0067-0049/200/1/4 · Cited by 428
Metadata
- Authors
- Brown, M. E., Trujillo, C., & Rabinowitz, D.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- International Gemini Observatory (US)
- Yale University (US)
- ORCID
- Trujillo, Chadwick
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2004-12-10
- Volume
- 617
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 645-649
- ISSN
- 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4357
- OpenAlex
- W2102529734
- Cited by
- 242
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 7.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Space and Planetary Science › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Space Satellite Systems and Control
- Keywords
- Sedna, trans-Neptunian objects, highly eccentric orbits, orbital elements, Kuiper belt
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