2060 Chiron
AsteroidNamed minor body or small moonclaimed
Discovered as an asteroid, then caught growing a cometary coma, and now counted as both.
Where it is right now
2060 Chiron is in Aries, 17.4 AU away, magnitude 18.3.
Computed for 16 September 2026, 23:00 UTC, and recomputed at least hourly. This page is cached, so treat the line above as accurate to the hour rather than to the second. The map shows the live position.
Position from a Kepler propagation of the published elements below, accurate to about an arcminute.
See 2060 Chiron on the mapFacts
Every line carries the source it came from.
- Diameter
- 166 kmSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Orbital period
- 50.6 yearsSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Distance from the Sun
- 13.684 AU on averageSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Orbit shape
- eccentricity 0.380, inclined 6.9 degrees to the eclipticSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Class
- CentaurSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Discovered
- 1977-Oct-18 by Kowal, C.Source: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Physical size
- Mean radius
- 83.0 km
- Diameter
- 166 km across
- Absolute magnitude H
- 5.54
Orbit
Elements are heliocentric, referred to the J2000.0 ecliptic.
- Average distance from the Sun
- 13.684 AU (2,047.1 million km)
- Closest and furthest
- 8.487 AU (1,269.7 million km) to 18.881 AU (2,824.6 million km)
- Eccentricity
- 0.3798, strongly elliptical
- Inclination to the ecliptic
- 6.93 degrees
- Orbital period
- 50.6 years (18,490 days)
- Longitude of ascending node
- 209.30 degrees
- Argument of periapsis
- 339.29 degrees
- Mean anomaly at J2000.0
- 28.72 degrees
Who holds this body
Catalog id chiron. 3,172 objects on the map, of which 171 are hand-authored with sourced facts.