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2060 Chiron is a small Solar System body in the outer Solar System, orbiting the Sun between Saturn and Uranus. Discovered in 1977 by Charles Kowal, it was the first-identified member of a new class of objects now known as centaurs—bodies orbiting between the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt.
5145 Pholus is an eccentric centaur in the outer Solar System, approximately 180 kilometers in diameter, that crosses the orbit of both Saturn and Neptune. It was discovered on 9 January 1992 by American astronomer David Rabinowitz (uncredited) of UA's Spacewatch survey at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, United States. The very reddish object has an elongated shape and a rotation period of 9.98 hours. It was named after the centaur Pholus from Greek mythology.
In planetary astronomy, a centaur is a small Solar System body that orbits the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune and crosses the orbits of one or more of the giant planets. Centaurs generally have unstable orbits because they cross or have crossed the orbits of the giant planets; almost all their orbits have dynamic lifetimes of only a few million years, but there is one known centaur, 514107 Kaʻepaokaʻawela, which may be in a stable orbit. Centaurs typically exhibit the characteristics of both asteroids and comets. They are named after the mythological centaurs that were a mixture of horse and human. Observational bias toward large objects makes determination of the total centaur population difficult. Estimates for the number of centaurs in the Solar System more than 1 km in diameter range from as low as 44,000 to more than 10,000,000.
8405 Asbolus is a centaur orbiting in the outer Solar System between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune. It was discovered on 5 April 1995, by James Scotti and Robert Jedicke of Spacewatch (credited) at Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona, United States. It is named after Asbolus, a centaur in Greek mythology and measures approximately 80 kilometers in diameter.
(55565) 2002 AW197 is a classical, non-resonant trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System, also known as a cubewano. With a likely diameter of at least 700 kilometers (430 miles), it is approximately tied with 2002 MS4 and 2013 FY27 (to within measurement uncertainties) as the largest unnamed object in the Solar System. It was discovered at Palomar Observatory in 2002.
39P/Oterma is a currently inactive periodic comet with an orbital period of nearly 20 years that stays outside the orbit of Jupiter. The nucleus has a diameter around 4–5 km. It was last observed in August 2021 and came to perihelion in July 2023 while 1.2 AU from Jupiter. It will finish the modest approach to Jupiter in January 2025 and will next come to perihelion in July 2042 at distance of 5.9 AU from the Sun. Opposition has occurred on 11 November 2023.
10199 Chariklo is the largest confirmed centaur. It orbits the Sun between Saturn and Uranus, grazing the orbit of Uranus. On 26 March 2014, astronomers announced the discovery of two rings around Chariklo by observing a stellar occultation, making it the first minor planet known to have rings.
10370 Hylonome (; prov. designation: 1995 DW2) is a minor planet orbiting in the outer Solar System. The dark and icy body belongs to the class of centaurs and measures approximately 72 kilometers (45 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 27 February 1995, by English astronomer David C. Jewitt and Vietnamese American astronomer Jane Luu at the U.S. Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, and later named after the mythological creature Hylonome.
60558 Echeclus is a centaur, approximately 84 kilometers (52 miles) in diameter, located in the outer Solar System. It was discovered by Spacewatch in 2000 and initially classified as a minor planet with provisional designation 2000 EC98 (also written 2000 EC98). Research in 2001 by Rousselot and Petit at the Besançon observatory in France indicated that it was not a comet, but in December 2005 a cometary coma was detected. In early 2006 the Committee on Small Bodies Nomenclature (CSBN) gave it the cometary designation 174P/Echeclus. It last came to perihelion in April 2015, and was expected to reach about apparent magnitude 16.7 near opposition in September 2015.
166P/NEAT is a periodic comet and centaur in the outer Solar System. It was discovered by the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) project in 2001 and initially classified a comet with provisional designation P/2001 T4 (NEAT), as it was apparent from the discovery observations that the body exhibited a cometary coma. It is one of few known bodies with centaur-like orbits that display a coma, along with 60558 Echeclus, 2060 Chiron, 165P/LINEAR and 167P/CINEOS. It is also one of the reddest centaurs.
52872 Okyrhoe is a centaur orbiting in the outer Solar System between Jupiter and Saturn. It was discovered on 19 September 1998, by the Spacewatch survey at Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona, United States, and named after Ocyrhoe from Greek mythology.
(24835) 1995 SM55, provisional designation 1995 SM55, is a trans-Neptunian object and member of the Haumea family that resides in the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 19 September 1995, by American astronomer Nichole Danzl of the Spacewatch program at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. It measures approximately 200 kilometers in diameter and was the second-brightest known object in the Kuiper belt, after Pluto, until 1996 TO66 was discovered.
(612093) 1999 LE31, prov. designation: 1999 LE31, is a centaur and damocloid on a retrograde and eccentric orbit from the outer region of the Solar System. It was first observed on 12 June 1999, by astronomers with the LINEAR program at the Lincoln Lab's ETS near Socorro, New Mexico, in the United States. The unusual object measures approximately 17 kilometers (11 miles) in diameter.
(445473) 2010 VZ98, provisional designation 2010 VZ98, is a trans-Neptunian object of the scattered disc, orbiting the Sun in the outermost region of the Solar System. It has a diameter of approximately 400 kilometers.
Comet 252P/LINEAR is a periodic comet and near-Earth object discovered by the LINEAR survey on April 7, 2000. The comet is a Jupiter family comet, meaning that it passes quite close to the orbit of Jupiter.
(416400) 2003 UZ117 is a trans-Neptunian object and suspected member of the Haumea family, located in the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 24 October 2003, by astronomers of the Spacewatch survey project at Kitt Peak Observatory, Arizona. The object may also be a non-resonant cubewano.
In planetary science, the term unusual minor planet, or unusual object, is used for a minor planet that possesses an unusual physical or orbital characteristic. For the Minor Planet Center (MPC), which operates under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union, any non-classical main-belt asteroid, which account for the vast majority of all minor planets, is an unusual minor planet. These include the near-Earth objects and Trojans as well as the distant minor planets such as centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects. In a narrower sense, the term is used for a group of bodies – including main-belt asteroids, Mars-crossers, centaurs and otherwise non-classifiable minor planets – that show a high orbital eccentricity, typically above 0.5 and/or a perihelion of less than 6 AU. Similarly, an unusual asteroid (UA) is an inner Solar System object with a high eccentricity and/or inclination but with a perihelion larger than 1.3 AU, which does exclude the near-Earth objects.
A Chiron-type comet (CTC) is a member of a small family of comets defined as having a semi-major axis larger than that of Jupiter (5.2 AU) and a Tisserand's parameter with respect to Jupiter (TJupiter) of more than 3.
(523676) 2013 UL10 (prov. designation:2013 UL10) is a reddish centaur with cometary activity orbiting the Sun between Jupiter and Uranus. It was discovered on 18 August 2010, by a team of astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at the Haleakalā Observatory, Hawaii. It is the first centaur known to have both comet-like activity and red surface colors. It is also one of the smallest centaurs, with a nucleus of no more than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in diameter. As of 2021, it has not been named.
References
- 1 2 3 "Horizons Batch for 167P/CINEOS on 2066-Mar-18" (Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022. (JPL#22 Soln.date: 2021-Apr-15)
- 1 2 "167P/CINEOS Orbit". Minor Planet Center . Retrieved June 18, 2014.
- ↑ Syuichi Nakano (June 18, 2005). "167P/CINEOS (2004 PY42) (NK 1185)". OAA Computing and Minor Planet Sections. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
- 1 2 3 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 167P/CINEOS" (2011-10-19 last obs (arc=9.35 years)). Retrieved July 12, 2012.
- ↑ Romanishin, W.; Tegler, S. C.; Boattini, A.; de Luise, F.; di Paola, A. (June 2005). "Comet C/2004 PY_42 (cineos)". International Astronomical Union Circular – Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 8545: 1. Bibcode:2005IAUC.8545....1R. ISSN 0081-0304.
- ↑ Green, D. W. E. (June 2005). "Comets 165P/2000 B4, 166P/2001 T4, and 167P/2004 PY_42". International Astronomical Union Circular – Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 8552: 2. Bibcode:2005IAUC.8552....2G. ISSN 0081-0304.
- ↑ Tegler, S. C.; Romanishin, W.; Consolmagno, G. J.; J., S. (December 2016). "Two Color Populations of Kuiper Belt and Centaur Objects and the Smaller Orbital Inclinations of Red Centaur Objects". The Astronomical Journal. 152 (6): 210. Bibcode:2016AJ....152..210T. doi: 10.3847/0004-6256/152/6/210 . ISSN 0004-6256.
