Quaoar

noun

Qua·oar ˈkwä(-ə)-ˌwär

astronomy

: a probable dwarf planet that orbits far beyond the orbit of Neptune with a mean distance from the sun of about 43.4 astronomical units (4.03 billion miles) and a diameter of approximately 890 miles (1430 kilometers)

Discovered by Brown and his colleagues in 2002, Quaoar took center stage at a session of the planetary science meeting in Puerto Rico.—

Ron Cowen, Science News, 16 Jan. 2010

Note: Quaoar is believed to qualify as a dwarf planet under the current definition of that term, but precise identification of its characteristics is made difficult by its distance from the Earth.