File:TheKuiperBelt Projections 55AU Classical Plutinos.svg

Summary

Plots of the aligned orbits of the plutinos and classical objects.

Both plots

• The nodes of the orbits are brought to 270°; and the perihelia to 0° to simplify the comparison of the perihelia and aphelia
• Objects plotted: classical in blue, plutions in red.¹

Polar view

The aligned orbits are further reclined onto the ecliptic (i.e. rotated around the line of nodes by an angle opposite to the inclination) to allow for easy comparison of perihelia and aphelia.

• Polar coordinates
  • Distance from the Sun (the small gold disk) in AU.
  • Argument not drawn
• Yellow circle: 30AU (~Neptune’s orbit)

Ecliptic view

Projection of the aligned orbits on the plane x,z ((looking at the ecliptic from the edge); the point of view is the ascending node.

• Polar coordinates.
  • Axis: distance form the Sun; perihelia on the left, aphelia on the right.
  • Angle: orbit inclination [°]
• Yellow arc: 30AU (Neptune’s orbit) perihelion

Footnotes

¹For roughly a half of known TNO the orbits are not yet known with the precision sufficient for the classification (a particularly delicate task for resonant objects).

Data source

Minor Planet Center Orbit database as of Feb 14th, 2006 except for resonant orbits' classification. Minor Planet Circular 2005-X77 was used instead.

Copyright status:

GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

Source:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Eurocommuter~commonswiki