20000 Varuna

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Template:Minor Planet | category = Kuiper belt | epoch = 14 July 2004 (JD 2453200.5) | semimajor = 6451.398 G m (43.129 AU) | perihelion = 6120.810 Gm (40.915 AU) | aphelion = 6781.985 Gm (45.335 AU) | eccentricity = 0.051 | period = 103440.6 days (283.20 years) | speed = 4.53 km/s | inclination = 17.2° | asc_node = 97.296° | arg_peri = 271.631° | mean_anomaly = 89.673° | dimensions = 1060 Template:± km | mass = ~5.9Template:E kg | density = ~1 g/cm³ | gravity = 0.15 m/s² | escape_velocity = 0.39 km/s | rotation = 0.26432 days (3.17 hours) | spectral_class = ? | abs_mag = 3.7 | albedo = 0.038 Template:± | temperature = ~43 K }} 20000 Varuna ("VAR oo na") is a Kuiper Belt object about 1060 km in diameter, estimated from a combination of thermal and optical measurements.

Little is known about it. It has a rotational period of approximately 3.17 hours (or 6.34 hours, depending on whether the light curve is single or double-peaked). It has a density of approximately 1 g/cm³ (as dense as water), which implies that it may not be a fully solid body (Jewitt & Sheppard, 2002). The surface is darker than the surface of Pluto indicating it is largely devoid of ice. (Jewitt, et al., 2001)

It is named after the Hindu god Varuna. It previously had the provisional designation Template:Mp and has been precovered in plates dating back to 1953.

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