28978 Ixion - Physical Characteristics

Physical Characteristics

Other than Pluto, Ixion was the first TNO discovered that was originally estimated to be larger than asteroid Ceres, Even in 2002, a year after its discovery, Ixion was still believed to be more than 1000 km in diameter, though the 2002 estimate was a result of a spurious detection at 250 GHz that was not confirmed by later observations. More recent estimates suggest that Ixion has a high albedo and is smaller than Ceres. Observations of Ixion by Spitzer Space Telescope in the far-infrared part of the spectrum revealed that its size is about 650 km.

Ixion is moderately red (slightly redder than 50000 Quaoar) in the visible light. It also has a higher albedo (>0.15) than the mid-sized red cubewanos. There may be an absorption feature at the wavelength of 0.8 μm in its spectrum, which is commonly attributed to the alteration of surface materials by water. In the near-infrared the spectrum of Ixion is flat and featureless. Water ice absorption bands at 1.5 and 2 μm are absent. This is in contrast to Varuna, which has a red spectral slope in the near-infrared as well as prominent water absorption bands. Both visible and infrared spectroscopic results indicate that Ixion's surface is a mixture of water ice, dark carbon and tholin, which is a heteropolymer formed by irradiation of clathrates of water and organic compounds. The Very Large Telescope (VLT) has checked Ixion for cometary activity, but did not detect a coma. Ixion is currently about 41 AU from the Sun, and it is possible that Ixion could develop a coma or temporary atmosphere when it is closer to perihelion.