~1,230 km
ESTIMATED DIAMETER
~554 YEARS
ORBITAL PERIOD
~67 AU
CURRENT DISTANCE FROM SUN
2007
DISCOVERED
XIANG LIU
KNOWN MOON
RED
SURFACE COLOR
THE RED DWARF PLANET
Gonggong is a large dwarf planet located
in the distant Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune.
It was discovered in 2007 and was
originally known by the provisional
designation 2007 OR10.
The object has a strongly reddish surface,
which is thought to be caused by complex
organic materials called tholins that have
been altered by radiation over extremely
long periods of time.
Gonggong follows a highly elliptical orbit
around the Sun and takes more than
five centuries to complete one revolution.
The dwarf planet has one known moon,
Xiangliu, which was discovered in 2016.
Gonggong is one of the largest known
objects in the Kuiper Belt and is thought
to contain significant amounts of water ice
beneath or within its surface layers.
GONGGONG FEATURES
RED SURFACE
Gonggong has one of the reddest surfaces
known among large objects in the outer
Solar System.
LONG ORBIT
Gonggong needs roughly 554 Earth years
to complete a single orbit around the Sun.
XIANG LIU
Gonggong has a known natural satellite
called Xiangliu, discovered using the
Hubble Space Telescope.
DID YOU KNOW?
One year on Gonggong lasts about 554 Earth years.
That means a single Gonggong year is
longer than all of recorded human history.
A DISTANT RED TRANS-NEPTUNIAN WORLD
Gonggong is a large object on an eccentric orbit beyond Neptune and has a notably reddish surface, generally interpreted as evidence of chemically altered organic-rich material mixed with ices. Because it is extremely distant, many of its physical properties remain less precisely measured than those of closer dwarf planets.
Its moon Xiangliu provides an important way to study the system. Measuring a satellite's orbit allows astronomers to determine the combined mass of the bodies and improve estimates of the primary object's density.
ORBONIX · KUIPER BELT
GONGGONG · XIANG LIU SYSTEM
GONGGONG · XIANG LIU SYSTEM