2023 KQ₁₄

2023 KQ₁₄
	2023 KQ14 imaged by the Dark Energy Camera on 7 June 2021
Discovery
Discovered by	FOSSIL
Discovery site	Mauna Kea Obs.
Discovery date	16 May 2023
Designations
MPC designation	2023 KQ14
Alternative designations	Ammonite (nickname)
Minor planet category	ETNO · sednoid
Orbital characteristics (barycentric)
	Epoch 5 May 2025; (JD 2460800.5)
	Uncertainty parameter 3
Observation arc	19.23 yr (7,024 days)
Earliest precovery date	11 April 2005
Aphelion	438.1 AU
Perihelion	65.9 AU
Semi-major axis	251.9±0.3 AU
Eccentricity	0.7383±0.0003
Orbital period (sidereal)	3,998 yr
Mean anomaly	356.56°
Mean motion	0° 0m 0.888s / day
Inclination	10.98°
Longitude of ascending node	72.104°±0.001°
Time of perihelion	≈ February 2063
Argument of perihelion	198.74°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	220–380 km (calc. for albedo 0.05–0.15)
Spectral type	moderately red; g–r = 0.87±0.18; r–i = 0.36±0.18;
Apparent magnitude	25.4
Absolute magnitude (H)	6.77±0.43

2023 KQ₁₄, informally nicknamed Ammonite, is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) orbiting the Sun on an extremely wide elliptical orbit. It was discovered by the Subaru Telescope atop Mauna Kea on 16 May 2023, as part of the internationally led astronomical survey "Formation of the Outer Solar System: an Icy Legacy" (FOSSIL). 2023 KQ₁₄ is unusual because the direction of its orbital apsides is not aligned with those of previously known TNOs with high-perihelion elliptical orbits (sometimes known as sednoids), which challenges the hypothesis that an unseen distant planet ("Planet Nine") could be aligning their orbits. 2023 KQ₁₄ likely has a diameter between 220 and 380 km (140 and 240 mi).