The orbit, mass, and albedo of transneptunian binary (66652) 1999 RZ253

We have observed (66652) 1999 RZ(253) with the Hubble Space Telescope at seven separate epochs and have fit an orbit to the observed relative positions of this binary. Two orbital solutions have been identified that differ primarily in the inclination of the orbit plane. The best fit corresponds to an orbital period, P = 46.263 +/- (0.006)(0.074) days. semimajor axis a = 4660 +/- 170 km and orbital eccentricity e = 0.460 +/- 0.013 corresponding to a system mass in = 3.7 +/- 0.4 x 10(18) kg. For a density of p = 1000 kg m(-3) the albedo at 477 inn is p(477) = 0.12 +/- 0.01 significantly higher than has been commonly assumed for objects in the Kuiper belt. Multicolor, multiepoch photometry shows this pair to have colors typical for the Kuiper belt with a spectral gradient of 0.35 per 100 nm it) the range between 475 and 775 nm. Photometric variations at the four epochs we observed were as large a., 12 3% but the sampling is insufficent to confirm the existence of a lightcurve. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.