Found by an 8-metre giant

How the Subaru Telescope spotted Tarqeq.

Published 2026-10-23

Tarqeq was discovered on 16 January 2007 by Scott Sheppard, David Jewitt and Jan Kleyna using the Subaru reflector at Mauna Kea.^[2]

The telescope

Subaru is the 8.2-metre telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. It is named after the Pleiades star cluster.^[6]

The announcement

The discovery was announced on 13 April 2007, from observations taken between 5 January 2006 and 22 March 2007.^[1]

Size estimate

NASA gives a mean radius of about 3 km, assuming an albedo of 0.06.^[2]

Numbered citations link to the sources list on the Tarqeq overview page.