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Adistant minor planet, ordistant object, is anyminor planet found beyondJupiter in theouter Solar System that is not commonly thought of as an "asteroid". The umbrella term is used byIAU'sMinor Planet Center (MPC),[1] which is responsible for the identification, designation and orbit computation of these objects.[2] As of January 2025[update], the MPC maintains 6101 distant objects in its data base.[3]
Most distant minor planets aretrans-Neptunian objects andcentaurs, while relatively few aredamocloids,Neptune trojans orUranus trojans. All distant objects have asemi-major axis (average distance from theSun) greater than 6 AU.[3] This threshold, which is just beyond the orbit of Jupiter (5.2 AU), ensures that the vast majority of "true asteroids" – such as thenear-Earth,Mars-crosser,main-belt andJupiter trojan populations – are excluded from the distant minor planets.[3]
