2060 Chiron

2060 Chiron is a 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.
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. Michael Brown lists it as possibly a dwarf planet with a measured diameter of 200 km (120 mi), which may be near the lower limit for an icy object to have been a dwarf planet at some point in its history. Chiron is named after the centaur Chiron in Greek mythology.
Chiron possibly has rings, similar to the better-established rings of 10199 Chariklo. Based on unexpected occultation events observed in stellar-occultation data obtained on 7 November 1993, 9 March 1994, and 29 November 2011, which were initially interpreted as resulting from jets associated with Chiron's comet-like activity, Chiron's rings are proposed to be 300 km in radius and sharply defined.
(Depiction of Chiron with rings)
Category:Minor planets