Centaur_(small_Solar_System_body)

# Centaur (small Solar System body)  **Microsim — three.js (Wikitube framework):** *The centaurs in the Solar System explorer* <div class="wt-sim" data-src="https://wikitube-3d-microsims.netlify.app/solar/Solar_System.html?obj=centaurs&embed=1" data-title="The centaurs in the Solar System explorer"></div> *The Solar System explorer locked on this article's state (`?obj=centaurs`); every object and population of the [[PORTAL_Solar_System|Solar System portal]] has its own state in the same scene.*  *Try: under show, choose small bodies to leave the centaurs' sampled points and the real orbit of Chiron on their own; set the speed to 10 years/s and watch Chiron swing in and out between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus about once every five seconds; then drag the year slider back toward 1800 and forward toward 2050, remembering that Chiron's drawn position grows approximate far from the epoch of its elements.* A **centaur** is a small icy body of the outer [[PORTAL_Solar_System|Solar System]] whose [[Orbit|orbit]] lies among the giant planets, between [[Jupiter]] and [[Neptune]], and usually crosses the orbit of at least one of them.[^horner2004][^mpc-unusual] Because those planets keep disturbing them, centaur orbits are short-lived: most survive only a few million years before a close encounter throws the body inward, outward or out of the Solar System.[^horner2004] Centaurs are understood as bodies in transit from the [[Kuiper_belt|Kuiper belt]] and [[Scattered_disc|scattered disc]] toward the Jupiter family of short-period [[Comet|comets]], and some already show comet-like activity.[^jewitt2009][^sarid2019] The first body recognised as a member of the class was 2060 Chiron, found in 1977; the largest known is 10199 Chariklo, about 250 km across and surrounded by two narrow rings.[^kowal1979][^braga-ribas2014] Estimates of the number larger than 1 km range from about 44,000 to more than ten million, depending on the method.[^horner2004][^sarid2019] Most show either neutral grey or very red surfaces, and their spectra reveal water ice and dark organic material.[^peixinho2003][^dotto2003] They are named after the centaurs of Greek myth, half-horse and half-human, a fitting emblem for objects that are part [[Asteroid|asteroid]] and part comet.[^wgsbn2025] The explorer at the top of this page draws the centaur region between 5.5 and 30 AU. Its population points are ILLUSTRATIVE, a sample standing in for the class, while Chiron is shown on its real orbit from the JPL Small-Body Database, approximate for dates far from the epoch of its elements.[^jpl-sbdb] ## Classification In the broadest sense a centaur has a perihelion or a semi-major axis between those of Jupiter and Neptune. Even members that do not now cross a planet's orbit are on paths that the giant planets will gradually alter until they do.[^horner2004] The class is therefore defined by instability as much as by location, and different catalogues draw its boundaries in different places. ### Discrepant criteria The Minor Planet Center (MPC) counts as centaurs objects with perihelion beyond Jupiter (q > 5.2 AU) and semi-major axis inside Neptune's (a < 30.1 AU), and sometimes lists them together with scattered-disc objects.[^mpc-unusual][^mpc-centaurs] JPL uses the semi-major axis alone, 5.5 AU ≤ a ≤ 30.1 AU; on that definition its Small-Body Database listed 1,050 centaurs on 18 September 2026.[^jpl-class][^jpl-sbdb] Other schemes are dynamical. The Deep Ecliptic Survey integrates each orbit forward 10 million years and calls a body a centaur if it is non-resonant and its perihelion stays inside Neptune's semi-major axis throughout, a proxy for a planet-crossing, short-lived orbit.[^elliot2005] Gladman, Marsden and Van Laerhoven, in *The Solar System Beyond Neptune* (2008), use the Tisserand parameter relative to Jupiter, T = a_J/a + 2 cos i √((a/a_J)(1 − e²)), which is nearly conserved during encounters with Jupiter. Objects with a between Jupiter and Neptune and T > 3.05 are centaurs; those with T below that and perihelion q ≤ 7.35 AU are Jupiter-family comets.[^gladman2008] For Chiron, with a = 13.7 AU, e = 0.38 and i = 6.9°, and with a_J = 5.20 AU, T ≈ 0.38 + 2.98 = 3.36 (derived), comfortably a centaur.[^jpl-sbdb][^jpl-t1] Still others define centaurs as non-resonant objects likely to cross the [[Hill_sphere|Hill sphere]] of a giant planet within 10 million years.[^chiang2007] ### Ambiguous objects The boundaries leave objects in two classes at once. Under the Tisserand criterion Echeclus and Okyrhoe, long called centaurs, fall just below 3.05 and become Jupiter-family comets; 944 Hidalgo, catalogued as an asteroid since 1920 and a centaur by JPL, has T ≈ 2.07 and perihelion at 1.95 AU, far inside Jupiter's orbit.[^gladman2008][^jpl-sbdb] Comet 29P/Schwassmann–Wachmann is listed either way depending on the scheme.[^sarid2019] Simulations of Kuiper belt objects moving inward have identified an "orbital gateway" between about 5.4 and 7.8 AU, just outside Jupiter, through which 21% of centaurs pass, including 72% of those that go on to become Jupiter-family comets.[^sarid2019] Four known objects occupy it, among them 29P and the small comet P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR–Grauer), and the same simulations suggest about a thousand more larger than 1 km in radius await discovery. Bodies here can be very active, blurring the line between centaur and comet further.[^sarid2019][^lacerda2013] ## Naming convention The IAU's Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN) assigns names by orbit. Objects with semi-major axes under 30 AU and perihelia beyond 5.5 AU, the centaurs proper, are named after the centaurs of Greek mythology: Chiron, Pholus, Nessus, Chariklo and their kin.[^wgsbn2025] Objects that cross Neptune's orbit from farther out, with a > 30 AU and q < 30 AU, are technically counted as centaurs too, but a separate scheme adopted in 2007 names them after mythological hybrid and shape-shifting creatures; the first so named were the binaries 65489 Ceto–Phorcys and 42355 Typhon–Echidna.[^grundy2007][^wgsbn2025] An example is 471325 Taowu, named after a creature of Chinese legend described as part human, part tiger and part boar.[^jpl-taowu] As with other minor planets, a name is proposed by the discoverers and approved by the WGSBN only after the orbit is secure enough for the object to receive a permanent number.[^wgsbn2025] Because some centaurs are also active comets, they can carry two designations: 2060 Chiron is also comet 95P/Chiron, and 60558 Echeclus is also 174P/Echeclus.[^jewitt2009][^wierzchos2017] ## Orbits A centaur's semi-major axis between 5.5 and 30 AU implies, by [[Kepler's_laws_of_planetary_motion|Kepler's third law]], an orbital period between about 13 and 164 years (5.5^1.5 ≈ 12.9, 30.1^1.5 ≈ 165, derived). Chiron, with a = 13.7 AU, takes about 50.6 years, ranging from 8.5 AU, inside [[Saturn]]'s orbit, to 18.9 AU, near [[Uranus]]'s.[^jpl-sbdb] ### Distribution Centaur orbits span a wide range of shapes. Pholus, Asbolus, Amycus and Nessus follow strongly eccentric paths; Pholus, for example, runs from 8.6 AU out to 31.9 AU, beyond Neptune.[^jpl-sbdb] Chariklo's orbit is comparatively round, with an eccentricity of 0.17, as are those of the Saturn-crossers Thereus and Okyrhoe.[^jpl-sbdb] Inclinations also vary, from a few degrees to steep angles. Over a dozen centaurs orbit the Sun backwards, with inclinations from about 105° to 160°; Carlos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos proposed that some large retrograde centaurs come from the [[Oort_cloud|Oort cloud]].[^delafuente2014] A claim that seventeen high-inclination centaurs are of interstellar origin, captured from another star's disc, has been disputed.[^namouni2020][^raymond2020] One object is an exception to the rule of instability. 514107 Kaʻepaokaʻāwela shares Jupiter's orbital period on a retrograde orbit, and may be stable over very long times; Namouni and Morais argued in 2018 that it may be of interstellar origin.[^namouni2018] ### Changing orbits Centaurs are not protected by [[Resonance|resonances]] with the planets, so their orbits are unstable on timescales of 10⁶–10⁷ years.[^jewitt2006] Horner and colleagues computed dynamical half-lives, the time over which half of a swarm of clones of each object is removed, of about 1 million years for Chiron and Pholus, 0.86 million years for Asbolus and up to about 11 million years for Amycus, which lies near the 3:4 resonance with Uranus.[^horner2004] Close encounters make the orbits [[Chaos_theory|chaotic]]: two integrations that start from slightly different present-day elements diverge after the first strong encounter, so the future of any single centaur can be described only statistically.[^horner2004] The statistical picture is clearer. Objects leak from the Kuiper belt and scattered disc onto Neptune-crossing orbits, are handed inward from planet to planet, and some reach Jupiter-crossing orbits whose perihelia drop into the inner Solar System, where they become active Jupiter-family comets.[^horner2004][^sarid2019] The rest are eventually ejected, mostly by Jupiter, or collide with the [[Sun]] or a planet. ## Physical characteristics Centaurs are small and distant, so their surfaces cannot be mapped from Earth, but their colours, spectra, light curves and thermal emission constrain what they are made of.[^jewitt2006] No centaur has been visited by a spacecraft, although Saturn's moon Phoebe, imaged by Cassini in 2004, may be a captured body of the same origin.[^jewitt2007] ### Colours Centaur colours, measured as magnitude differences between blue (B), visual (V) and red (R) filters, are strikingly varied.[^barucci2003] They split into two groups: very red objects such as 5145 Pholus, and neutral or blue-grey ones such as 2060 Chiron. The Kuiper belt objects they descend from show a continuous range instead, which makes the gap among centaurs a puzzle.[^peixinho2003] Explanations fall into two families. Either the two groups differ in origin or composition, or they differ in surface processing. Long exposure to radiation reddens organic-bearing ices, while cometary activity or collisions can bury the red crust under fresher, greyer material; Delsanti and colleagues describe a competition between reddening by radiation and "blushing" by collisions.[^peixinho2003][^hainaut2002] The link with activity is not simple: active centaurs range from grey Chiron to red 166P/NEAT.[^bauer2003] ### Spectra Reflectance [[Spectroscopy|spectroscopy]] identifies ices and minerals by their absorption bands, though fits are rarely unique. Water ice has been detected on several centaurs, including Chiron, Chariklo and Pholus.[^jewitt2006][^luu2000] Chariklo's surface has been modelled as tholins like those on [[Triton_(moon)|Triton]] mixed with amorphous carbon.[^dotto2003] Models of Pholus combine tholins like those on [[Titan_(moon)|Titan]] with carbon black, olivine and methanol ice; models of Asbolus mix tholins with amorphous carbon.[^dotto2003] Chiron's spectrum changes with its activity: its water-ice band was seen during a quiet period and vanished when the coma brightened and swamped the surface signal.[^luu2000][^dotto2003] ### Similarities to comets Chiron was seen with a coma of gas and dust in 1988 and 1989, as it approached perihelion, and is now classified as both a minor planet and a comet, 95P/Chiron.[^jewitt2009] 60558 Echeclus became active after its discovery and is likewise catalogued as comet 174P, and 166P/NEAT was found already active on a centaur orbit.[^choi2006][^bauer2003] About 30 centaurs have shown activity, mostly those with smaller perihelia, which suggests heating drives it.[^jewitt2009] Water ice barely sublimates beyond about 5 AU, so the activity must come from more volatile ices or from the crystallisation of amorphous ice.[^jewitt2009] Carbon monoxide, detected in small amounts at Echeclus and Chiron, can supply their comae.[^wierzchos2017][^womack1999] Their CO output is far below that of 29P/Schwassmann–Wachmann, the most persistently active distant comet.[^womack2017] The orbital boundary with comets is porous in both directions. Comet 39P/Oterma was active until an encounter with Jupiter in 1963 moved it onto a centaur orbit, after which it fell quiet.[^mazzotta2006] ### Rotational periods Rotation periods come from the periodic brightening and dimming of a spinning, irregular body. Photometry by Galiazzo and colleagues gives 5.5 ± 0.4 hours for Chiron and 7.0 ± 0.6 hours for Chariklo, close to the catalogue values of 5.92 and 7.00 hours.[^galiazzo2016a][^jpl-sbdb] ### Size, density, reflectivity Centaurs are mostly tens to a few hundred kilometres across, and the largest reside beyond about 20 AU.[^galiazzo2016b] Their surfaces are dark: JPL lists geometric albedos of about 0.045 for Chariklo and 0.044 for Pholus, so they reflect under 5% of incident light, while Chiron's is higher at 0.15.[^jpl-sbdb] The binary centaur Ceto–Phorcys has yielded a density of about 1.4 g/cm³ from its mutual orbit, consistent with a mixture of ice and rock.[^grundy2007] Stellar occultations in 2013 revealed two narrow rings around Chariklo, the first found around a body smaller than a planet.[^braga-ribas2014] ## Hypotheses of origin The dynamical source of most centaurs is thought to be the region beyond Neptune. Simulations show that Kuiper belt and scattered-disc objects are steadily perturbed onto Neptune-crossing orbits, and the scattered disc, whose members already approach Neptune, is dynamically the most likely supplier.[^horner2004][^jewitt2006] The colours complicate the picture, because the scattered disc does not show the centaurs' two-colour split. [[Plutino|Plutinos]] do show a similar bimodality, and simulations suggest that some plutino orbits are less stable than once thought, partly because of perturbations by [[Pluto]].[^wan2001] Other sources contribute. Some centaurs may be fragments: the orbits of 2020 MK4, P/2008 CL94 (Lemmon) and P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR–Grauer) pass close to that of 29P, and encounters in which one body passes through the other's coma are possible.[^delafuente2021] 2013 VZ70 may be debris from Saturn's population of irregular moons.[^delafuente2022] The dwarf planet [[Ceres_(dwarf_planet)|Ceres]] may itself have formed in the outer Solar System and migrated inward, which would make it an ancient ex-centaur.[^ssb-dawn] ## Notable centaurs The table lists early-discovered centaurs with their discovery year and the dynamical half-life computed by Horner and colleagues for forward integration; the class letters give the planets controlling perihelion and aphelion (S Saturn, U Uranus, N Neptune, K Kuiper belt).[^horner2004] | Name | Discovered | Discoverer | Half-life (Myr) | Class | |---|---|---|---|---| | 2060 Chiron | 1977 | Charles T. Kowal | 1.03 | SU | | 5145 Pholus | 1992 | Spacewatch (David L. Rabinowitz) | 1.28 | SN | | 7066 Nessus | 1993 | Spacewatch (David L. Rabinowitz) | 4.9 | SK | | 8405 Asbolus | 1995 | Spacewatch (James V. Scotti) | 0.86 | SN | | 10199 Chariklo | 1997 | Spacewatch | 10.3 | U | | 10370 Hylonome | 1995 | Mauna Kea Observatory | 6.3 | UN | | 55576 Amycus | 2002 | NEAT at Palomar | 11.1 | UK | Chiron's discovery by Kowal was the first recognition of the class, and Pholus followed in 1992.[^kowal1979][^scotti1992] ## See also - [[Asteroid]] · [[Comet]] · [[Dwarf_planet]] - [[Kuiper_belt]] · [[Scattered_disc]] · [[Trans-Neptunian_object]] - [[Jupiter_trojan]] - [[PORTAL_Solar_System|Solar System portal]] ## Explanatory notes Derived values: periods from Kepler's third law, P (years) = a^1.5 with a in AU. The Tisserand parameter for Chiron uses the JPL SBDB elements (a = 13.7 AU, e = 0.38, i = 6.93°) and Jupiter's semi-major axis of 5.20 AU from JPL Table 1: 5.20/13.7 = 0.380 and 2 × cos 6.93° × √(2.635 × 0.856) = 2.98. Chiron's lap in the explorer at 10 years/s takes about 5 s (50.6/10). Orbital elements quoted from the SBDB are osculating values at the database epoch and drift over time. ## References [^horner2004]: Horner, J.; Evans, N. W.; Bailey, M. E. (2004). "Simulations of the population of Centaurs – I. The bulk statistics". *Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society* 354: 798–810. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08240.x [^mpc-unusual]: Minor Planet Center. "Unusual minor planets". http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/iau/lists/Unusual.html [^mpc-centaurs]: Minor Planet Center. "List of centaurs and scattered-disk objects". https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/t_centaurs.html [^jewitt2009]: Jewitt, D. (2009). "The active centaurs". *The Astronomical Journal* 137: 4296–4312. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/137/5/4296 [^sarid2019]: Sarid, G.; Volk, K.; Steckloff, J.; Harris, W.; Womack, M.; Woodney, L. (2019). "29P/Schwassmann–Wachmann 1, a centaur in the gateway to the Jupiter-family comets". *The Astrophysical Journal Letters* 883: L25. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab3fb3 [^kowal1979]: Kowal, C. T.; Liller, W.; Marsden, B. G. (1979). "The discovery and orbit of (2060) Chiron". In *Dynamics of the Solar System*, IAU Symposium 81, p. 245. Bibcode 1979IAUS...81..245K. [^braga-ribas2014]: Braga-Ribas, F.; Sicardy, B.; Ortiz, J. L.; et al. (2014). "A ring system detected around the Centaur (10199) Chariklo". *Nature* 508: 72–75. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13155 [^peixinho2003]: Peixinho, N.; Doressoundiram, A.; Delsanti, A.; Boehnhardt, H.; Barucci, M. A.; Belskaya, I. (2003). "Reopening the TNOs color controversy: Centaurs bimodality and TNOs unimodality". *Astronomy and Astrophysics* 410: L29–L32. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20031420 [^dotto2003]: Dotto, E.; Barucci, M. A.; de Bergh, C. (2003). "Colours and composition of the Centaurs". *Earth, Moon, and Planets* 92: 157–167. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:MOON.0000031934.89097.88 [^wgsbn2025]: IAU Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (22 February 2025). "Rules and guidelines for naming non-cometary small Solar-System bodies". https://www.wgsbn-iau.org/documentation/NamesAndCitations.pdf [^jpl-sbdb]: JPL Solar System Dynamics. "Small-Body Database" (lookup and query API, elements and physical parameters for 2060 Chiron, 5145 Pholus, 10199 Chariklo, 944 Hidalgo, 60558 Echeclus; centaur-class count), fetched 2026-09-18. https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html [^jpl-class]: JPL Solar System Dynamics. "Orbit classification: Centaur (CEN)". https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb_help.cgi?class=CEN [^jpl-t1]: JPL Solar System Dynamics. "Approximate Positions of the Planets", Table 1. https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/approx_pos.html [^elliot2005]: Elliot, J. L.; Kern, S. D.; Clancy, K. B.; et al. (2005). "The Deep Ecliptic Survey: a search for Kuiper belt objects and Centaurs. II. Dynamical classification, the Kuiper belt plane, and the core population". *The Astronomical Journal* 129: 1117–1162. https://doi.org/10.1086/427395 [^gladman2008]: Gladman, B.; Marsden, B. G.; Van Laerhoven, C. (2008). "Nomenclature in the outer Solar System". In Barucci, M. A.; et al. (eds.), *The Solar System Beyond Neptune*. University of Arizona Press, pp. 43–57. ISBN 978-0-8165-2755-7. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/books/ssbn2008/7002.pdf [^chiang2007]: Chiang, E.; Lithwick, Y.; Murray-Clay, R.; Buie, M.; Grundy, W.; Holman, M. (2007). "A brief history of transneptunian space". In Reipurth, B.; Jewitt, D.; Keil, K. (eds.), *Protostars and Planets V*. University of Arizona Press, pp. 895–911. Bibcode 2007prpl.conf..895C. [^lacerda2013]: Lacerda, P. (2013). "Comet P/2010 TO20 LINEAR–Grauer as a mini-29P/SW1". *Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society* 428: 1818–1826. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sts164 [^grundy2007]: Grundy, W. M.; Stansberry, J. A.; Noll, K. S.; et al. (2007). "The orbit, mass, size, albedo, and density of (65489) Ceto/Phorcys: a tidally-evolved binary Centaur". *Icarus* 191: 286–297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2007.04.004 [^jpl-taowu]: JPL Small-Body Database Lookup. "471325 Taowu (2011 KT19)". https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=20471325 [^delafuente2014]: de la Fuente Marcos, C.; de la Fuente Marcos, R. (2014). "Large retrograde Centaurs: visitors from the Oort cloud?". *Astrophysics and Space Science* 352: 409–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-014-1993-9 [^namouni2020]: Namouni, F.; Morais, M. H. M. (2020). "An interstellar origin for high-inclination Centaurs". *Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society* 494: 2191–2199. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa712 [^raymond2020]: Raymond, S. N.; Brasser, R.; Batygin, K.; Morbidelli, A. (2020). "No evidence for interstellar planetesimals trapped in the Solar system". *Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters* 497: L46–L49. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slaa111 [^namouni2018]: Namouni, F.; Morais, M. H. M. (2018). "An interstellar origin for Jupiter's retrograde co-orbital asteroid". *Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters* 477: L117–L121. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/sly057 [^jewitt2006]: Jewitt, D. C.; Delsanti, A. (2006). "The Solar System beyond the planets". In Blondel, P.; Mason, J. (eds.), *Solar System Update*. Springer-Praxis. ISBN 978-3-540-26056-1. [^jewitt2007]: Jewitt, D.; Haghighipour, N. (2007). "Irregular satellites of the planets: products of capture in the early Solar System". *Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics* 45: 261–295. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.astro.44.051905.092459 [^barucci2003]: Barucci, M. A.; Doressoundiram, A.; Cruikshank, D. P. (2003). "Physical characteristics of TNOs and Centaurs". LESIA, Paris Observatory. http://www.lesia.obspm.fr/~alaind/TNO/Barucci2003_comet2.pdf [^hainaut2002]: Hainaut, O. R.; Delsanti, A. C. (2002). "Colors of minor bodies in the outer Solar System: a statistical analysis". *Astronomy & Astrophysics* 389: 641–664. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20020431 [^bauer2003]: Bauer, J. M.; Fernández, Y. R.; Meech, K. J. (2003). "An optical survey of the active Centaur C/NEAT (2001 T4)". *Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific* 115: 981–989. https://doi.org/10.1086/377012 [^luu2000]: Luu, J. X.; Jewitt, D. C.; Trujillo, C. (2000). "Water ice on 2060 Chiron and its implications for Centaurs and Kuiper belt objects". *The Astrophysical Journal* 531: L151–L154. https://doi.org/10.1086/312536 [^choi2006]: Choi, Y.-J.; Weissman, P. R.; Polishook, D. (2006). "(60558) 2000 EC98". *IAU Circular* 8656: 2. Bibcode 2006IAUC.8656....2C. [^wierzchos2017]: Wierzchos, K.; Womack, M.; Sarid, G. (2017). "Carbon monoxide in the distantly active Centaur (60558) 174P/Echeclus at 6 au". *The Astronomical Journal* 153: 230. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aa689c [^womack1999]: Womack, M.; Stern, S. A. (1997). "Observations of carbon monoxide in (2060) Chiron". *Lunar and Planetary Science* XXVIII, abstract 1492. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc97/pdf/1492.PDF [^womack2017]: Womack, M.; Sarid, G.; Wierzchos, K. (2017). "CO in distantly active comets". *Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific* 129: 031001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/129/973/031001 [^mazzotta2006]: Mazzotta Epifani, E.; Palumbo, P.; Capria, M. T.; Cremonese, G.; Fulle, M.; Colangeli, L. (2006). "The dust coma of the active Centaur P/2004 A1 (LONEOS): a CO-driven environment?". *Astronomy & Astrophysics* 460: 935–944. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20065189 [^galiazzo2016a]: Galiazzo, M. A.; de la Fuente Marcos, C.; de la Fuente Marcos, R.; Carraro, G.; Maris, M.; Montalto, M. (2016). "Photometry of Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects: 2060 Chiron (1977 UB), 10199 Chariklo (1997 CU26), 38628 Huya (2000 EB173), 28978 Ixion (2001 KX76), and 90482 Orcus (2004 DW)". *Astrophysics and Space Science* 361: 212. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-016-2801-5 [^galiazzo2016b]: Galiazzo, M. A.; Wiegert, P.; Aljbaae, S. (2016). "Influence of the Centaurs and TNOs on the main belt and its families". *Astrophysics and Space Science* 361: 371. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-016-2957-z [^wan2001]: Wan, X.-S.; Huang, T.-Y. (2001). "The orbit evolution of 32 plutinos over 100 million years". *Astronomy and Astrophysics* 368: 700–705. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20010056 [^delafuente2021]: de la Fuente Marcos, C.; de la Fuente Marcos, R.; Licandro, J.; et al. (2021). "The active centaur 2020 MK4". *Astronomy & Astrophysics* 649: A85. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039117 [^delafuente2022]: de la Fuente Marcos, C.; de la Fuente Marcos, R. (2022). "Centaur 2013 VZ70: debris from Saturn's irregular moon population?". *Astronomy & Astrophysics* 657: A59. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202142166 [^ssb-dawn]: Space Studies Board, National Academies. "Dawn at Ceres: what have we learned?". http://sites.nationalacademies.org/cs/groups/ssbsite/documents/webpage/ssb_183286.pdf [^scotti1992]: Scotti, J. V.; Rabinowitz, D. L.; Shoemaker, C. S.; et al. (1992). "1992 AD". *IAU Circular* 5434: 1. Bibcode 1992IAUC.5434....1S. ## External links - Minor Planet Center: list of centaurs and scattered-disk objects. https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/t_centaurs.html - JPL Small-Body Database. https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html - NASA JPL (2013). "NASA's WISE finds mysterious centaurs may be comets". https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-wise-finds-mysterious-centaurs-may-be-comets ## Wikipedia : Wikitube **Strict pair:** [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur_(small_Solar_System_body)) : [Wikitube](https://en.wikitube.io/wiki/Centaur_(small_Solar_System_body)) · pinned revision [1370774203](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370774203) · 2026-09-18 ## Previous hub tags Hubs: `Life_Physics`. Portals: [[PORTAL_Solar_System]]. --- *Solar System portal child articles, wave 1 · 2026-09-18 · drafted · row SOL-019 · explorer state `?obj=centaurs`.*