(523671) 2013 FZ27

(523671) 2013 FZ₂₇ (provisional designation 2013 FZ₂₇) is a trans-Neptunian object found in the Kuiper belt in the farthest part of our Solar System. This object is thought to be about 570 kilometers, or 350 miles, wide.

It was first seen on March 16, 2013, by American astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo at the CTIO in Chile. So far, scientists have not been able to take clear pictures of it with powerful telescopes, so we do not know if it has any moons.

In 2026, the Hubble Space Telescope is planned to take images of this object. These pictures should help scientists learn if 2013 FZ₂₇ has any large moons orbiting around it.

Numbering and naming

This minor planet was numbered by the Minor Planet Center on 25 September 2018 (M.P.C. 111778). At first, it was given the wrong discovery credit, but this was corrected in an update on 6 April 2019 (MPC 112429), giving proper credit to Scott S. Sheppard and Chad Trujillo. As of June 2025, it still has not been given an official name.

Observations

In 2014, American astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo at the CTIO in Chile shared their findings about 2013 FZ₂₇ in a special astronomy report. At that time, it was very far from the Sun, about 49 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

Scientists had actually seen this object much earlier, on February 20, 2001, even before it was officially discovered. They found these old pictures thanks to surveys from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Pan-STARRS-1 survey at the Haleakala Observatory.

Orbit and classification

2013 FZ₂₇ is a trans-Neptunian object, meaning it is located beyond the orbit of Neptune. It orbits the Sun at a distance that ranges from 37.6 to 58.7 AU, completing one orbit every 334 years and 1 month. The orbit of 2013 FZ₂₇ is slightly stretched out and tilted compared to the plane where most planets orbit.

Physical characteristics

Diameter and albedo

The space object 2013 FZ₂₇ is thought to be about 561 to 584 kilometers wide. Scientists use a special number called absolute magnitude to help figure out its size, and they guess that its surface reflects only a little bit of light.

Because of its size, scientists think it might be a "mid-sized" object in space. These objects are bigger than smaller space rocks but smaller than some of the larger objects in the solar system. They believe these mid-sized objects have empty spaces inside because they are not very heavy for their size.