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Discovery
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| Discovered by | Charles T. Kowal |
| Discovery date | October 18, 1977 |
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Designations
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| Alternative names | 1977 UB |
| Minor planet category |
Centaur, Comet |
| Epoch May 10, 2005 (JD 2453500. Events 1009 - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays A provisional designation in astronomy is the naming convention applied to Astronomical objects immediately following their discovery A comet is a small Solar System body that orbits the Sun and when close enough to the Sun exhibits a visible coma (atmosphere or a tail — In Physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of one object around a point or another body for example the gravitational orbit of a planet around a star In Astronomy, an epoch is a moment in time used as a reference for the Orbital elements of a Celestial body. Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Julian date (JD is the interval of time in days and fractions of a day since 4713 B 5) | |
| Aphelion | 2,826 Gm (18. In Celestial mechanics, an apsis, plural apsides (ˈæpsɨdɪːz is the point of greatest or least distance of the Elliptical orbit of an object from 891 AU) |
| Perihelion | 1,263 Gm (8. In Celestial mechanics, an apsis, plural apsides (ˈæpsɨdɪːz is the point of greatest or least distance of the Elliptical orbit of an object from 449 AU) |
| Semi-major axis | 2,045 Gm (13. In Geometry, the semi-major axis (also semimajor axis) is used to describe the dimensions of ellipses and hyperbolae For other meanings see Giga (disambiguation Giga- (symbol G is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 109 The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International 670 AU) |
| Eccentricity | 0. The astronomical unit ( AU or au or au or sometimes ua) is a unit of Length based on the distance from the Earth to the In Astrodynamics, under standard assumptions, any Orbit must be of Conic section shape 382 |
| Orbital period | 18461. The orbital period is the time taken for a given object to make one complete Orbit about another object 347 d (50. A day (symbol d is a unit of Time equivalent to 24 Hours and the duration of a single Rotation of planet Earth with respect to the 54 a) |
| Average orbital speed | 7. In Astronomy, a Julian year (symbol a) is a unit of measurement of Time defined The orbital speed of a body generally a Planet, a Natural satellite, an artificial satellite, or a Multiple star, is the speed at which it 75 km/s |
| Mean anomaly | 65. The second ( SI symbol s) sometimes abbreviated sec, is the name of a unit of Time, and is the International System of Units In the study of orbital dynamics the mean anomaly of an orbiting body is the Angle the body would have traveled about the center of the orbit's Auxiliary circle 733° |
| Inclination | 6. Inclination in general is the Angle between a Reference plane and another plane or axis of direction 935° |
| Longitude of ascending node | 209. This article describes the unit of angle For other meanings see Degree. The longitude of the ascending node (☊ or Ω is one of the Orbital elements used to specify the Orbit of an object in space 231° |
| Argument of perihelion | 339. The argument of periapsis (or argument of perifocus) ( ω) is the Orbital element describing the Angle of an Orbiting body's periapsis 606° |
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Physical characteristics
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| Dimensions | 132-152 km [1] |
| Mass | 2. Mass is a fundamental concept in Physics, roughly corresponding to the Intuitive idea of how much Matter there is in an object 4-3. 0×1018 kg |
| Mean density | 2. The density of a material is defined as its Mass per unit Volume: \rho = \frac{m}{V} Different materials usually have different 0? g/cm³ |
| Equatorial surface gravity | 0. A cubic centimetre or cubic centimeter (symbol cm3 —the abbreviation cc, though widely used is deprecated is a commonly used unit of Volume The surface gravity, g, of an astronomical or other object is the Gravitational acceleration experienced at its surface 037-0. 040 m/s² |
| Escape velocity | 0. In Physics, escape velocity is the speed where the Kinetic energy of an object is equal to the magnitude of its Gravitational potential energy 070-0. 075 km/s |
| Rotation period | 0. The rotation period of an astronomical object is the time it takes to complete one revolution around its Axis of rotation relative to the background stars 2466 d (5. 918 h) |
| Albedo | 0. The albedo of an object is the extent to which it diffusely reflects light from the sun 11±0. 02 [1] |
| Temperature | ~75 K |
| Spectral type | B,Cb [2] |
| Apparent magnitude | 15. Temperature is a physical property of a system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold something that is hotter generally has the greater temperature The kelvin (symbol K) is a unit increment of Temperature and is one of the seven SI base units The Kelvin scale is a thermodynamic The apparent magnitude ( m) of a celestial body is a measure of its Brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, normalized to the value 6 (Perihelic opposition) |
| Absolute magnitude | 6. In Astronomy, absolute magnitude (also known as absolute visual magnitude) is the Apparent magnitude an object would have if it were at a standard 5 |
| Angular diameter | 0. The angular diameter of an object as seen from a given position is the "visual diameter" of the object measured as an angle 035" (max)[3] |
2060 Chiron (pronounced /ˈkaɪrən/ from Greek: Χείρων) is a planetoid in the outer solar system. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Minor planet is a term used since the 19th century to describe objects such as Asteroids that are in Orbit around the Sun but are not Planets The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by Gravity. Discovered in 1977 by Charles T. Kowal (precovery images have been found as far back as 1895),[4] it was the first known member of a new class of objects now known as centaurs, with an orbit between those of Saturn and Uranus. Precovery (prediscovery is a term used in Astronomy that describes the process of finding the Image of an object (usually a Minor planet, but sometimes In Physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of one object around a point or another body for example the gravitational orbit of a planet around a star
Although it was initially classified as an asteroid, later dispute arose as to whether it was an asteroid or actually a comet. Asteroids, sometimes called Minor planets or planetoids', are bodies—primarily of the inner Solar System —that are smaller than planets but A comet is a small Solar System body that orbits the Sun and when close enough to the Sun exhibits a visible coma (atmosphere or a tail — Today it is classified as both, and accordingly it is also known by the cometary designation 95P/Chiron.
Chiron is named after the centaur Chiron in Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, the centaurs (from Ancient Greek: Κένταυροι - Kéntauroi are a race of creatures composed of part Human In Greek mythology, Chiron or Cheiron ("hand" was held as the superlative Centaur among his brethren Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance It should not be confused with the largest moon of Pluto named Charon, discovered in 1978. Charon (ˈʃærən; also, as in Χάρων) discovered in 1978 is either the largest Moon of Pluto or the smaller member of a double
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Orbit
Chiron's orbit was found to be highly eccentric, with perihelion just inside the orbit of Saturn and aphelion distance just outside the perihelion of Uranus (it does not reach the average distance of Uranus, however). In Astrodynamics, under standard assumptions, any Orbit must be of Conic section shape In Celestial mechanics, an apsis, plural apsides (ˈæpsɨdɪːz is the point of greatest or least distance of the Elliptical orbit of an object from In Celestial mechanics, an apsis, plural apsides (ˈæpsɨdɪːz is the point of greatest or least distance of the Elliptical orbit of an object from Chiron's closest approach to Saturn in modern times was in May 720, at just under 30 Gm. For other meanings see Giga (disambiguation Giga- (symbol G is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 109 The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International It does not come nearly as close to Uranus; Chiron crosses Uranus' orbit where the latter is farther than average from the Sun. It attracted considerable interest because it was the first object discovered in such an orbit, well outside the asteroid belt. The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the Planets Mars and Jupiter. Chiron is now classified as a centaur, the first of a class of objects orbiting between the outer planets. A planet, as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU is a celestial body Orbiting a Star or stellar remnant that is Centaurs are not in stable orbits and will eventually be removed by gravitational perturbation by the giant planets, moving to different orbits or leaving the solar system altogether. Chiron is probably a refugee from the Kuiper belt. The Kuiper belt (ˈkaɪpɚ to rhyme with "viper" sometimes called the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending
Physical characteristics
In 1988 it was found that Chiron was undergoing an outburst in brightness (by about one magnitude), which is behaviour typical of comets but not asteroids. Further observations in 1989 showed that Chiron had developed a cometary coma. In Astronomy, a coma (from the Latin word for "hair" is the nebulous envelope around the nucleus of a Comet. At the time of its discovery, Chiron was close to aphelion, whereas the observations showing a coma were done closer to perihelion, perhaps explaining why no cometary behavior had been seen earlier.
Chiron is officially designated as both a comet and an asteroid, an indication of the sometimes fuzzy dividing line between the two classes of object. The term proto-comet has also been used. At approximately 150 km across, it is unusually large for a comet nucleus.
Since the discovery of Chiron, other centaurs have been discovered, and nearly all are currently classified as asteroids but are being observed for possible cometary behavior. As of March 2006, only one has been observed to have a cometary coma: 60558 Echeclus, which now also has the cometary designation 174P/Echeclus. 60558 Echeclus (ɪˈkɛkləs e-kek'-ləs from Έχεκλος) is a centaur in the outer Solar system.
There are also three other non-centaur asteroids that are also classified as comets: 4015 Wilson-Harrington, 7968 Elst-Pizarro, and 118401 LINEAR.
References
- ^ a b Groussin (01/2004). Properties of the nuclei of Centaurs Chiron and Chariklo. Astronomy and Astrophysics, v. 413, p. 1163-1175 (2004). Retrieved on 2007-10-18. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1009 - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid
- ^ JPL Small-Body Database. Retrieved on 2007-01-11. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1055 - Theodora is crowned Empress of the Byzantine Empire.
- ^ Meech, Karen (19-FEB-1994). THE STRUCTURE OF THE INNER COMA OF COMET CHIRON: IMAGING THE EXOPAUSE. INSTITUTE FOR ASTRONOMY, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII. Retrieved on 2007-10-19. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 202 BCE - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal.
- ^ Grayzeck, Ed (2003-12-11). Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 359 - Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office The Chiron Perihelion Campaign. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Retrieved on 2007-10-18. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1009 - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid
- Luu JX, Jewitt DC, Trujillo C. (2000). David C Jewitt is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. Early career Trujillo attended Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park Illinois. "Water Ice in 2060 Chiron and Its Implications for Centaurs and Kuiper Belt Objects". Astrophysical Journal 531 (2): L151-L154. The Astrophysical Journal (abbreviated to ApJ or Astrophys J) is a Scientific journal covering Astronomy and Astrophysics. PMID 10688775. Preprint on arXiv.
- Fernandez Y. R. , Jewitt DC, Sheppard S (2002). David C Jewitt is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. "Thermal Properties of Centaurs Asbolus and Chiron". Astrophysical Journal 123: 1050–1055. The Astrophysical Journal (abbreviated to ApJ or Astrophys J) is a Scientific journal covering Astronomy and Astrophysics. Preprint on arXiv.
- Patrick Moore Guinness book of Astronomy ISBN 0-85112-375-9
- SOLEX 9.1
External links
- Orbital simulation from JPL (Java) / Ephemeris
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