Chiron was later found on several precovery images, going back to 1895, which allowed its orbit to be accurately determined. Chiron was even claimed as the tenth planet by the press. It was found near aphelion and at the time of discovery it was the most distant known minor planet. It was given the temporary designation of 1977 UB. History Discovery Ĭhiron was discovered on 1 November 1977 by Charles Kowal from images taken on 18 October at Palomar Observatory. Chiron is named after the centaur Chiron in Greek mythology. Today it is classified as both a minor planet and a comet, and is accordingly also known by the cometary designation 95P/Chiron. Īlthough 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. 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. 2060 Chiron is a small Solar System body in the outer Solar System, orbiting the Sun between Saturn and Uranus.
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