66652 Borasisi
66652 Borasisi /ˌbɒrəˈsiːsi/ is a binary classical Kuiper belt object. It was discovered in 1999 by Chad Trujillo, Jane X. Luu and David C. Jewitt and identified as a binary in 2003 by K. Noll and colleagues using the Hubble Telescope.
Satellite
In 2003 it was discovered that 66652 Borasisi is a binary with the components of comparable size (about 120–180 km) orbiting the barycentre on a moderately elliptical orbit. The total system mass is about 3.4 × 1018 kg.
The companion (66652) Borasisi I, named Pabu /ˈpɑːbuː/ orbits its primary in 46.2888 ± 0.0018 days on an orbit with semi-major axis of 4528 ± 12 km and eccentricity 0.4700 ± 0.0018. The orbit is inclined with respect to the observer by about 54° meaning that is about 35° from the pole-on position.
Naming
Borasisi is named after a fictional creation deity taken from the novel Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. In the book, Borasisi is the Sun and Pabu is the name of the Moon:
Exploration
Around 2005, Borasisi was considered as a target for the proposed New Horizons 2 after a Triton/Neptune flyby.
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