List of Solar System objects by greatest aphelion

File:Solar system barycenter.svg's barycenter relative to the Sun]]

As many of the objects listed below have some of the most extreme orbits of any objects in the Solar System, describing their orbit precisely can be particularly difficult and sensitive to the time the orbit is defined at. For most objects in the Solar System, a heliocentric reference frame (relative to the gravitational center of the Sun) is sufficient to explain their orbits. However, as the orbits of objects become closer to the Solar System's escape velocity, with long orbital periods on the order of hundreds or thousands of years, a different reference frame is required to describe their orbit: a barycentric reference frame. A barycentric reference frame measures the asteroid's orbit relative to the gravitational center of the entire Solar System, rather than just the Sun. Mostly due to the influence of the outer gas giants, the Solar System barycenter varies by up to twice the radius of the Sun.

This difference in position can lead to significant changes in the orbits of long-period comets and distant asteroids. Many comets have hyperbolic (unbound) orbits in a heliocentric reference frame, but in a barycentric reference frame have much more firmly bound orbits, with only a small handful remaining truly hyperbolic.

The orbital parameter used to describe how non-circular an object's orbit is, is eccentricity (e). An object with an e of 0 has a perfectly circular orbit, with its perihelion distance being just as close to the Sun as its aphelion distance. An object with an e of between 0 and 1 will have a bound elliptical orbit. For example, an object with an e of ⅓ (0.{{overline|333}}) will have a perihelion twice as close to the Sun as its aphelion. As an object's e approaches 1, its orbit will be more and more elongated, and at e=1, the object's orbit [[Parabolic trajectory|will be

parabolic]] and unbound to the Solar System (i.e. not returning for another orbit). An e greater than 1 will produce a hyperbolic orbit and still be unbound to the Solar System.

Although it describes how "unbound" an object's orbit is, eccentricity does not necessarily reflect how high an incoming velocity said object had before entering the Solar System (a parameter known as V_infinity, or V_inf). A clear example of this is the eccentricities of the two known Interstellar objects as of October 2019, 1I/'Oumuamua. and 2I/Borisov. 'Oumuamua had an incoming V_inf of {{convert|26.5|km/s|mph}}, but due to its low perihelion distance of only 0.255 au, it had an eccentricity of 1.200. However, Borisov's V_inf was only slightly higher, at {{convert|32.3|km/s|mph|abbr=on}}, but due to its higher perihelion distance of ~2.003 au, its eccentricity was a comparably higher 3.340. In practice, no object originating from the Solar System should have an incoming heliocentric eccentricity much higher than 1, and should rarely have an incoming barycentric eccentricity of above 1, as that would imply that the object had originated from an indefinitely far distance from the Sun.

Due to having the most eccentric orbits of any Solar System body, a comet's orbit typically intersects one or more of the planets in the Solar System. As a result, the orbit of a comet is frequently perturbed significantly, even over the course of a single pass through the inner Solar System. Due to the changing orbit, it's necessary to provide a calculation of the orbit of the comet (or similarly orbiting body) both before and after entering the inner Solar System. For example, Comet ISON was ~312 au from the Sun in 1600, and its remnants will be ~431 au from the Sun in 2400, both well outside of any significant gravitational influence from the planets.

File:Comet 1910 A1.jpg

File:New shot of Proxima Centauri, our nearest neighbour.jpg is 271,000 AU or 4.25 light years away]]

{{sticky header}}

File:C-west-1976-ps.jpg

Examples of comets with a more well-determined orbit. Comets are extremely small relative to other bodies and hard to observe once they stop outgassing (see Coma (cometary)). Because they are typically discovered close to the Sun, it will take some time even thousands of years for them to actually travel out to great distances. The Whipple proposal might be able to detect Oort cloud objects at great distances, but probably not a particular object.

{{Div col|colwidth=26em}}

• Comet West 70,000 AU{{cite web

|author=Horizons output

|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=C/1975+V1

|title=Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for Comet C/1975 V1-A (West)

|access-date=2011-02-01}} (Solution using the Solar System Barycenter. Select Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0) (1.1 light-years)

• C/1999 F1 (Catalina) 66,600 AU{{cite web

|author=Horizons output

|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=C/1999+F1

|title=Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for Comet C/1999 F1 (Catalina)

|access-date=2011-03-07}} (Solution using the Solar System Barycenter and barycentric coordinates. Select Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0) (1.05 light-years)

• C/2012 S4 (PANSTARRS) 5700 AU (barycentric)

{{cite web

|author=Horizons output

|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=2012S4

|title=Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for Comet C/2012 S4 (PANSTARRS)

|access-date=2015-09-26}} (Solution using the Solar System Barycenter and barycentric coordinates. Select Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0)

• Comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) 3410 AU{{cite web

|date=2011-01-30

|author=Horizons output

|url=http://home.comcast.net/~kpheider/Hyakutake-70kyr.txt

|title=Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for Comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2)

|access-date=2011-01-30}} ([http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=C/1996+B2 Horizons])

• C/1910 A1 (Great January comet) about 2974 AU (barycentric){{cite web

|author=Horizons output

|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=C/1910+A1

|title=Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for Comet C/1910 A1 (Great January comet)

|access-date=2011-02-07}} (Solution using the Solar System Barycenter and barycentric coordinates. Select Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0)

• C/1992 J1 (Spacewatch) 3650 AU{{cite web

|author=Horizons output

|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=C/1992+J1

|title=Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for Comet C/1992 J1 (Spacewatch)

|access-date=7 October 2012}} (Solution using the Solar System Barycenter and barycentric coordinates. Select Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0)

• C/2007 N3 (Lulin) 2400 AU{{cite web

|author=Horizons output

|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=C/2007+N3

|title=Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3)

|access-date=2011-01-30}} (Solution using the Solar System Barycenter. Select Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0)

{{Div col end}}

{{See also|List of trans-Neptunian objects|List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun}}

{{Bar graph

| title = Number of minor planets (January 2024)

| float = right

| bar_width = 20

| width_units = em

| data_max = 40

| label_type = Aphelion
in AU

| data_type = Number of minor planets

| label1 =

| data1 =

| label2 = 400-800

| data2 = 36

| label3 = 800-1200

| data3 = 15

| label4 = 1200-1600

| data4 = 7

| label5 = 1600-2000

| data5 = 4

| label6 = 2000-2400

| data6 = 5

| label7 = 2400-2800

| data7 = 2

| label8 = 2800+

| data8 = 3

}}

A large number of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) – minor planets orbiting beyond the orbit of Neptune – have been discovered in recent years. Many TNOs have orbits that take them far beyond Pluto's aphelion of 49.3 AU. Some of these TNOs with an extreme aphelion are detached objects such as {{mpl|2010 GB|174}}, which always reside in the outermost region of the Solar System, while for other TNOs, the extreme aphelion is due to an exceptionally high eccentricity such as for {{mpl|2005 VX|3}}, which orbits the Sun at a distance between 4.1 (closer than Jupiter) and 2200 AU (70 times farther from the Sun than Neptune). The following is a list of minor planets with the largest aphelion in descending order.

The following group of bodies have orbits with an aphelion above 400 AU, with 1-sigma uncertainties given to two significant digits. As of May 2024, there are 73 such bodies.{{Cite web |title=Small-Body Database Query |url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_query.html#!#results |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=ssd.jpl.nasa.gov}}

File:Sednoid orbits.png: Sedna, {{mpl|2012 VP|113}}, and Leleākūhonua]]

|-

|{{mpl|2018 VM|35}}|| 545.94 ±34 || 7.76 ±0.05 || {{M+J|2018+VM35}}

|-

|{{mpl|(523719) 2014 LM|28}}

|543.67 ±0.15

|9.95

|{{M+J|523719}}

|-

|{{mpl|2013 FT|28}}|| 519.49 ±2.7 || 7.20 || {{M+J|2013+FT28}}

|-

|{{mpl|2017 SN|33}}|| 511.63 ±16 || 17.90 || {{M+J|2017+SN33}}

|-

|{{mpl|2015 DM|319}}

|505.11 ±2.3

|8.78 ±0.11

|{{M+J|2015+DM319}}

|-

|{{mpl|2016 SA|59}} || 484.56 ±1.2 || 7.81 ±0.36 || {{M+J|2016+SA59}}

|-

|{{mpl|(582301) 2015 RM|306}} || 480.63 ±0.028 || 11.06 ±0.44 || {{M+J|582301}}

|-

|{{mpl|2012 VP|113}} || 467.17 ±0.99 || 4.09 || {{M+J|2012+VP113}}

|-

|{{mpl|2016 SG|58}} || 464.64±0.39 || 7.50 ±0.41 || {{M+J|2016+SG58}}

|-

|{{mpl|2015 RY|245}} || 449.66 ±9.0 || 8.90 || {{M+J|2015+RY245}}

|-

|A/2021 E2 || 430.46 ±8.3 || 17.90 ±0.44 || {{M+J|A/2021+E2}}

|-

|{{mpl|2014 QW|510}}

|411.63 ±0.32

|7.53 ±0.24

|{{M+J|2014+QW510}}

|-

|{{mpl|(148209) 2000 CR|105}}

|400.29 ±1.2

|6.14

|{{M+J|148209}}

|}

The following asteroids have an incoming barycentric aphelion of at least 1000 AU.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

File:Distant object orbits + Planet Nine.png, and other very distant objects along with the predicted orbit of Planet Nine. The three sednoids (pink) along with the red-colored extreme trans-Neptunian object (eTNO) orbits are suspected to be aligned with the hypothetical Planet Nine while the blue-colored eTNO orbits are anti-aligned. The highly elongated orbits colored brown include centaurs and damocloids with large aphelion distances over 200 AU.]]

{{clear}}

• List of trans-Neptunian objects (numbered minor planets only)
• List of unnumbered trans-Neptunian objects
• List of artificial objects leaving the Solar System
• List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun (then-year distance from the Sun)
• List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs
• List of the most distant astronomical objects

;About comets

• List of hyperbolic comets
• List of comets with no meaningful orbit
• List of near-parabolic comets
• List of periodic comets
• List of numbered comets
• Interstellar object

;Objects of interest

• 1996 PW
• C/2015 ER61
• C/1980 E1

;Others

• {{annotated link|Oort cloud}}
• {{annotated link|Kuiper belt}}
• {{annotated link|Sednoid}}
• {{annotated link|Detached object}}

{{reflist

|refs=

[https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb_query.cgi?obj_group=all;obj_kind=all;obj_numbered=all;OBJ_field=0;ORB_field=0;c1_group=ORB;c1_item=Bn;c1_op=%3E;c1_value=20000;table_format=HTML;max_rows=100;format_option=comp;c_fields=AcBhBgBjBiBnBsCkCsBqCm;.cgifields=format_option;.cgifields=ast_orbit_class;.cgifields=table_format;.cgifields=obj_kind;.cgifields=obj_group;.cgifields=obj_numbered;.cgifields=com_orbit_class&query=1&c_sort=BnD JPL Small-Body Database Search Engine: Q > 20000 (au)]

}}

• [https://www.sciencenews.org/article/distant-planet-may-lurk-far-beyond-neptune A distant planet may lurk far beyond Neptune]
• [http://www.space.com/28284-planet-x-worlds-beyond-pluto.html Mysterious Planet X May Really Lurk Undiscovered in Our Solar System]

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Aphelion