List of the brightest Kuiper belt objects
Since the year 2000, a number of Kuiper belt objects with diameters of between 500 and 1500 km have been discovered. 50000 Quaoar, a classical KBO discovered in 2002, is over 1000 km across. and, both announced on 29 July 2005, are larger still. Other objects, such as 28978 Ixion and 20000 Varuna measure roughly 500 km across. This has led gradually to the acceptance of Pluto as the largest member of the Kuiper belt.
The brightest known dwarf planets and other KBOs are:
| Permanent Designation | Provisional Designation | Absolute magnitude | Bond Albedo | Semimajor axis | Equatorial diameter | Date found | Discoverer | Diameter method |
| ' | -0.8 | 72 | 39.4 | 2377 | 1930 | C. Tombaugh | direct imaging | |
| ' | -0.2 | 80 | 45.6 | 1430 | 2005 | M. Brown, C. Trujillo, D. Rabinowitz | occultation | |
| 0.2 | 51 | 43.3 | 1595 | 2003 | Sierra Nevada Observatory | occultation | ||
| Charon | S/1978 P 1 | 1.0 | 20 to 50 | 39.4 | 1212 | 1978 | J. Christy | direct imaging |
| Orcus | 2.2 | 23 | 39.3 | 910 | 2004 | M. Brown, C. Trujillo, D. Rabinowitz | thermal | |
| Quaoar | 2.4 | 11 | 43.7 | 1070 | 2002 | C. Trujillo, M. Brown | thermal | |
| Varda | 3.2 | 10 | 46.1 | 705 | 2003 | J. A. Larsen | estimated | |
| 55565 | 3.3 | 11 | 47.2 | 768 | 2002 | NEAT | thermal | |
| 55636 | 3.4 | 88 | 43.2 | 286 | 2002 | NEAT | Haumea family, estimated | |
| 202421 | 3.5 | 20 | 43.2 | 498 | 2005 | Palomar | estimated | |
| 307261 | 3.6 | 5 | 42.0 | 934 | 2002 | C. Trujillo, M. Brown | thermal | |
| 208996 | 3.6 | 10 | 39.4 | 772 | 2003 | C. Trujillo, M. Brown | thermal | |
| Varuna | 3.6 | 11 | 42.3 | 678 | 2000 | Spacewatch | thermal | |
| 55637 | 3.6 | 11 | 42.5 | 665 | 2002 | Spacewatch | thermal | |
| Ixion | 3.6 | 14 | 39.8 | 617 | 2001 | DES | thermal | |
| 145452 | 3.7 | 11 | 41.6 | 679 | 2005 | A. C. Becker, A. W. Puckett, J. Kubica | thermal | |
| 120178 | 3.9 | 70? | 43.4 | 218? | 2003 | M. Brown, C. Trujillo, D. Rabinowitz | Haumea family, estimated |