2060 Chiron
Chiron in Celestia with rings. Surface details and shape are imaginary, as it may not be in hydrostatic equilibrium.
|
|
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Charles T. Kowal |
| Discovery date | 18 October 1977 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | 2060 Chiron 95P/Chiron |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkaɪərən/ |
|
Named after
|
Chiron |
| 1977 UB | |
|
centaur comet |
|
| Adjectives | Chironean, Chironian |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 120.74 yr (44100 days) |
| Aphelion | 18.856 AU (2.8208 Tm) (Q) |
| Perihelion | 8.4181 AU (1.25933 Tm) (q) |
| 13.637 AU (2.0401 Tm) (a) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.38271 (e) |
| 50.36 yr (18394 d) | |
|
Average orbital speed
|
7.75 km/s |
| 142.18° (M) | |
| 0° 1m 10.456s / day (n) | |
| Inclination | 6.9447° (i) |
| 209.23° (Ω) | |
| 339.46° (ω) | |
| Earth MOID | 7.42001 AU (1.110018 Tm) |
| Jupiter MOID | 2.99131 AU (447.494 Gm) |
| Jupiter Tisserand parameter | 3.351 |
| Physical characteristics | |
|
Mean radius
|
109±10 km |
| 5.918 h (0.2466 d) | |
| 0.16±0.03, | |
| Temperature | ~ 75 K |
| B,Cb | |
| ~ 18.7 15.6 (Perihelic opposition) |
|
| 5.92±0.20 or 7.26 (in 1997) | |
| 0.035" (max) | |
2060 Chiron, also known as 95P/Chiron, is a minor planet in the outer Solar System, orbiting the Sun between Saturn and Uranus. Discovered in 1977 by Charles T. Kowal (precovery images have been found as far back as 1895), 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. Besides the four giant planets, Chiron and 10199 Chariklo, also a centaur, are the only other bodies in the Solar System known to have rings.
Although it was initially called an asteroid and classified only as a minor planet with the designation "2060 Chiron", it was later found to exhibit behavior typical of a comet. Today it is classified as both a minor planet and a comet, and is accordingly also known by the cometary designation "95P/Chiron".
Chiron is named after the centaur Chiron in Greek mythology.
Michael Brown lists it as possibly a dwarf planet with a measured diameter of 206 km (128 miles) which is near the lower limit for an icy dwarf planet (around 200 km, or 124 miles).
Chiron was discovered on 1 November 1977 by Charles Kowal from images taken on 18 October at Palomar Observatory. It was given the temporary designation of 1977 UB. It was found near aphelion and at the time of discovery it was the most distant known minor planet. Chiron was even claimed as the by the press. Chiron was later found on several precovery images, going back to 1895, which allowed its orbit to be accurately determined. It had been at perihelion in 1945 but was not discovered then because there were few searches being made at that time, and these were not sensitive to slow-moving objects. The Lowell Observatory's survey for distant planets would not have gone down faint enough in the 1930s and did not cover the right region of the sky in the 1940s.
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