2060 Chiron
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AI overview
2060 Chiron is a minor planet located in the outer Solar System, orbiting between Jupiter and Neptune. It matters because it represents an important class of celestial objects that helps astronomers understand the composition and structure of our Solar System's distant regions.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Charles Kowal
- Discovery site
- Palomar Observatory
- Discovery date
- 1 November 1977
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ k aɪ r ɒ n /
- Named after
- Chiron ( Greek mythology )
- Alternative designations
- 1977 UB, OK (Object Kowal)
- Minor planet category
- centaur comet distant
- Adjectives
- Chironian Chironean (both / k aɪ ˈ r oʊ n i ən / )
- Symbol
- (astrological)
- Observation arc
- 126.29 yr
- Earliest precovery date
- 24 April 1895 , ( Harvard Observatory )
- Aphelion
- 18.87 AU (2.8 billion km ), (occurred May 2021)
Article
2060 Chiron is a ringed 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. Chiron is named after the centaur Chiron in Greek mythology.
Although it was initially called an asteroid and classified only as a minor planet with the designation "2060 Chiron", in 1989 it was 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. More recently, a series of occultation events through the 2010s and early 2020s revealed that Chiron hosts rings, making it one of four minor planets known to have rings (the three others being 10199 Chariklo, Haumea, and Quaoar) and the only known comet to do so.