submitted and proposed to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which then approved the name in 2003. The Minor Planet Center published the naming citation on 1 May 2003. Although the IAU's present naming convention for minor planets requires objects in the orbital class of plutinos (objects in 3:2 orbital resonance with Neptune) to be named after underworld deities, these guidelines had not yet been established when Huya was named. Orbit Huya is in a 2:3 mean-motion orbital resonance with Neptune, meaning that Huya completes two orbits around the Sun for every three orbits completed by Neptune. Due to its 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune, Huya is classified as a plutino, a dynamical class of objects with orbits similar to that of Pluto. Huya orbits the Sun at an average distance of , taking 250 years to complete a full orbit. Huya's orbit is inclined to the ecliptic by 15.5 degrees, slightly less than Pluto's orbital inclination of 17 degrees. It has an elongated orbit with an orbital eccentricity of 0.28. Due to its eccentric orbit, its distance from the Sun varies over the course of its orbit, ranging from 28.5 AU at perihelion (closest distance) to 51.1 AU at aphelion (farthest distance). Like Pluto, its resonance with Neptune prevents close approaches between Huya and the giant planets. The minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) between Huya and Neptune is 1.45 AU, but due to the resonance, the two never come closer than 21 AU of each other. Huya has passed perihelion in 2015, and is now moving away from the Sun, approaching aphelion by 2149. , Huya is approximately 28.8 AU from the Sun, located in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. Simulations by the Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) show that Huya can acquire a perihelion distance (qmin) as small as 27.27 AU over the next 10 million years. Physical characteristics Size At the time of discovery, Huya was thought to be about one-fourth the size of Pluto, or in size, based on an initially measured bright absolute magnitude of 4.7 and an assumed dark albedo (reflectivity) of 0.04. This initial size estimate of Huya made it one of the largest trans-Neptunian objects known at that time, ranking as the second-largest minor planet after Ceres. Subsequent measurements of Huya's thermal emission yielded higher albedo estimates for Huya, consequently corresponding to smaller diameter estimates. Photometric and thermal observations of Huya in 2003