2026 ED138: A Large Trans-Neptunian Object in Early Rubin Observatory Data, and How Many More May Remain

Abstract

We characterize a large trans-Neptunian object (TNO), 2026 ED138, discovered in data taken by the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory with the linking code pointdexter, and validate it independently. 2026 ED138 has absolute magnitude $H_V=3.19$, implying a diameter of 612-1530 km for geometric albedos between 0.25 and 0.04 and making it one of the ten intrinsically brightest known TNOs and a dwarf-planet candidate. At $i\approx19.4$ it is bright enough in the sky for ground-based spectroscopy and light curves and for detailed study with HST and JWST. Archival DECam detections extend its arc to more than ten years (3789 days). Its orbit, with barycentric $a=43.09$ au, $e=0.139$ and $i=24.4^\circ$, lies at the edge of the 12:7 mean-motion resonance with Neptune, like that of the dwarf planet Haumea, but with $g-r=0.63$ it is too red to be a member of Haumea's collisional family. 2026 ED138 was missed by earlier surveys because it lies far south and near the crowded regions of the Galactic plane. Our recoveries of the known TNOs with $H_V<4$ suggest that about 3 more objects like them, and probably more, remain undiscovered away from the Galactic plane. More such objects probably lie within $10^\circ$ of the plane, which no search has yet covered to this depth.