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HandWiki. Centaur (Minor Planet). Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36491 (accessed on 22 September 2026).
HandWiki. Centaur (Minor Planet). Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36491. Accessed September 22, 2026.
HandWiki. "Centaur (Minor Planet)" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36491 (accessed September 22, 2026).
HandWiki. (2022, November 25). Centaur (Minor Planet). In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36491
HandWiki. "Centaur (Minor Planet)." Encyclopedia. Web. 25 November, 2022.
Centaur (Minor Planet)
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The content is sourced from: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Astronomy:Centaur_(minor_planet)

Centaurs are small solar system bodies with a semi-major axis between those of the outer planets. They generally have unstable orbits because they cross or have crossed the orbits of one or more of the giant planets; almost all their orbits have dynamic lifetimes of only a few million years, but there is one centaur, (514107) 2015 BZ509, which may be in a stable (though retrograde) orbit. Centaurs typically behave with characteristics of both asteroids and comets. They are named after the mythological centaurs that were a mixture of horse and human. It has been estimated that there are around 44,000 centaurs in the Solar System with diameters larger than 1 kilometer. The first centaur to be discovered, under the definition of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the one used here, was 944 Hidalgo in 1920. However, they were not recognized as a distinct population until the discovery of 2060 Chiron in 1977. The largest confirmed centaur is 10199 Chariklo, which at 260 kilometers in diameter is as big as a mid-sized main-belt asteroid, and is known to have a system of rings. It was discovered in 1997. However, the lost centaur 1995 SN55 may be somewhat larger. No centaur has been photographed up close, although there is evidence that Saturn's moon Phoebe, imaged by the Cassini probe in 2004, may be a captured centaur that originated in the Kuiper belt. In addition, the Hubble Space Telescope has gleaned some information about the surface features of 8405 Asbolus. (As of 2008), three centaurs have been found to display comet-like comas: 2060 Chiron, 60558 Echeclus, and 166P/NEAT. Chiron and Echeclus are therefore classified as both asteroids and comets. Other centaurs, such as 52872 Okyrhoe, are suspected of having shown comas. Any centaur that is perturbed close enough to the Sun is expected to become a comet.

chariklo asbolus solar system

References

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  2. "Unusual Minor Planets". Minor Planet Center. http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/iau/lists/Unusual.html. Retrieved 2010-10-25. 
  3. "Orbit Classification (Centaur)". JPL Solar System Dynamics. http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb_help.cgi?class=CEN. Retrieved 2008-10-13. 
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  5. This would make Echeclus (q = 5.8 AU, TJ = 3.03) and Okyrhoe (q = 5.8 AU; TJ = 2.95), which have traditionally been classified as centaurs, and Hidalgo (q = 1.95 AU; TJ = 2.07), which has traditionally been considered an asteroid and is classified as a centaur by JPL, Jupiter-family comets, not centaurs.
  6. Gladman, B.; Marsden, B.; Van Laerhoven, C. (2008). "Nomenclature in the Outer Solar System". The Solar System Beyond Neptune. ISBN 978-0-8165-2755-7. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/books/ssbn2008/7002.pdf. 
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  12. For the purpose of this diagram, an object is classified as a centaur if its semi-major axis lies between Jupiter and Neptune
  13. "Three clones of centaur 8405 Asbolus making passes within 450Gm". Archived from the original on 2015-09-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20150913215558/http://home.surewest.net/kheider/astro/AsbolusClones.txt. Retrieved 2009-05-02.  (Solex 10)
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  16. Bauer, J. M., Fernández, Y. R., & Meech, K. J. 2003. "An Optical Survey of the Active Centaur C/NEAT (2001 T4)", Publication of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific", 115, 981 http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/PASP/journal/issues/v115n810/203101/203101.html
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  19. A class of Magnesium Iron Silicates (Mg, Fe)2SiO4, common components of igneous rocks.
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