Definition of Quaoar in US English:
Quaoar
proper nounˈkwouˌärˈkwouˌär
An asteroid, roughly the size of Pluto, discovered in 2002. Its orbit is in the Kuiper belt.
Example sentencesExamples
- The discovery of Quaoar, a magnitude 18.5 object located in the constellation Ophiuchus, was announced on October 7, 2002, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
- Our data show that the ice on Quaoar has at some time been raised in temperature above 110 K, the critical temperature for transformation from amorphous to crystalline.
- Discovering Quaoar, the scientists say, fuels hope that more large-scale bodies will be found in the Kuiper Belt--perhaps even some larger than Pluto.
- Western astrologers around the world will be taking careful note of Quaoar as Western astrology is the only astrological system in the world which accepts new planetary bodies and reformulates itself to take into account the meanings and insight a new planet brings.
- Quaoar's composition is theorized to be largely ices mixed with rock, not unlike that of a comet, though 100 million times greater in volume.
Origin
From the name of a Native American god associated with creation.