What is the primary difficulty astronomers face when measuring the physical size of a Trans-Neptunian Object?
Answer
The inability to accurately determine the object's albedo.
Determining the size of these distant objects relies heavily on estimating their albedo, which measures how reflective their surface is. If an observer guesses the albedo incorrectly, it leads to significant errors in the calculated diameter. A dark object might appear smaller than it is, whereas a bright, icy object might appear misleadingly large, creating an albedo trap that complicates size estimation.
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