Varuna
E81704
Kuiper Belt object
celestial body
cubewano
dwarf planet candidate
minor planet
trans-Neptunian object
Varuna is a large, rapidly rotating trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper Belt, notable for its elongated shape and classification as a likely dwarf-planet candidate.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Varuna canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T633432 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Varuna Context triple: [Kuiper Belt object, example, Varuna]
-
A.
Urana
Urana is a small rural town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, known for its agricultural surroundings and historic country character.
-
B.
Pallas
Pallas was a British Royal Navy frigate active during the American Revolutionary War, notably engaged in North Sea operations against French and American forces.
-
C.
Vulcan
Vulcan is the Roman god of fire, metalworking, and the forge, often depicted as a blacksmith crafting weapons and armor for the gods.
-
D.
Inti
Inti is the Incan sun god, revered as a principal deity associated with royal power, agriculture, and the cosmic order.
-
E.
Gaia
Gaia is the primordial Greek earth goddess, revered as the ancestral mother of all life and the personification of the Earth itself.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Varuna Target entity description: Varuna is a large, rapidly rotating trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper Belt, notable for its elongated shape and classification as a likely dwarf-planet candidate.
-
A.
Urana
Urana is a small rural town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, known for its agricultural surroundings and historic country character.
-
B.
Pallas
Pallas was a British Royal Navy frigate active during the American Revolutionary War, notably engaged in North Sea operations against French and American forces.
-
C.
Vulcan
Vulcan is the Roman god of fire, metalworking, and the forge, often depicted as a blacksmith crafting weapons and armor for the gods.
-
D.
Inti
Inti is the Incan sun god, revered as a principal deity associated with royal power, agriculture, and the cosmic order.
-
E.
Gaia
Gaia is the primordial Greek earth goddess, revered as the ancestral mother of all life and the personification of the Earth itself.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Kuiper Belt object
ⓘ
celestial body ⓘ cubewano ⓘ dwarf planet candidate ⓘ minor planet ⓘ trans-Neptunian object ⓘ |
| aphelionDistance | approximately 46 AU ⓘ |
| belongsToPopulation | hot classical Kuiper Belt population ⓘ |
| cataloguedIn | Minor Planet Center database ⓘ |
| discoveredBy |
A. H. B. Whipple
ⓘ
K. Sarneczky ⓘ R. S. McMillan ⓘ |
| discoveryDate | 2000-11-28 ⓘ |
| hasAbsoluteMagnitude | approximately 3.7 ⓘ |
| hasDensity | low ⓘ |
| hasEccentricity | approximately 0.06 ⓘ |
| hasEstimatedAlbedo | approximately 0.07 ⓘ |
| hasEstimatedDiameter | approximately 650–700 km ⓘ |
| hasInclination | approximately 17 degrees ⓘ |
| hasLightcurveAmplitude | large ⓘ |
| hasMeanDistanceFromSun | approximately 43 AU ⓘ |
| hasMinorPlanetDesignation | 20000 Varuna ⓘ |
| hasNoKnownMoons | true ⓘ |
| hasNumbering | 20000 ⓘ |
| hasOrbitalClass |
classical Kuiper Belt object
ⓘ
non-resonant Kuiper Belt object ⓘ |
| hasOrbitalPeriod | approximately 283 years ⓘ |
| hasProvisionalDesignation | 2000 WR106 ⓘ |
| hasRotationPeriod | approximately 6.34 hours ⓘ |
| hasRotationState | near breakup limit ⓘ |
| hasSemiMajorAxis | approximately 43 AU ⓘ |
| hasShape |
elongated
ⓘ
triaxial ellipsoid ⓘ |
| hasSpectralType | moderately red TNO spectrum ⓘ |
| hasSurfaceColor | moderately red ⓘ |
| hasSurfaceFeature | water ice absorption bands (spectral) ⓘ |
| isDwarfPlanetCandidate | true ⓘ |
| isInHydrostaticEquilibriumCandidate | true ⓘ |
| isRapidlyRotating | true ⓘ |
| lightcurveIndicates | elongated shape ⓘ |
| likelyComposition | mixture of ice and rock ⓘ |
| locatedBeyond | Neptune ⓘ |
| locatedIn | Kuiper Belt ⓘ |
| namedAfter |
Hindu god Varuna
ⓘ
Varuna (Vedic deity) ⓘ
linked to:
Varuna
|
| orbits | Sun ⓘ |
| perihelionDistance | approximately 40 AU ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Varuna Description of subject: Varuna is a large, rapidly rotating trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper Belt, notable for its elongated shape and classification as a likely dwarf-planet candidate.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject linked to:
Kuiper Belt objects