Orcus

Orcus — dwarf planet, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.

Nicknamed the anti-Pluto: it shares Pluto’s exact 2:3 dance with Neptune but always sits on the opposite side of the Sun. Its surface ices hint at past cryovolcanism, and its moon Vanth is nearly half its size.

Radius
~455 km
Discovered
2004
Year
~247 Earth years
Distance
30–48 AU
Moon
Vanth — unusually large
Orbit
2:3 resonance — the "anti-Pluto"

Seeing Orcus in real time

Cosmoscope puts Orcus at its true position in the solar system, computed from JPL-derived ephemeris and updated continuously. Open the live 3D view to see, in real time, how far Orcus is from the Sun and from Earth right now, how many minutes or hours light takes to cross that gap, and how fast it is moving along its orbit. Scrub the timeline to place Orcus where it was on any past date, or where it will be years from now.

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Interactive universe
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