And here's interesting news. For years, it has been speculated that many Centaurs may be cometary, but only one, Chiron, has ever shown any coma. However, in December 2005, it was announced that Centaur Echeclus (60558) has now shown a coma extending about 20 arcsec from the nucleus. No decision has been made to redesignate it a comet. It therefore stands in the same category as Chiron as a comet with centaur status. Are these two unique in having coma's, or will we be seeing more of this activity amongst the Centaurs? And if it is relatively rare....could it be indicative of something the two bodies have in common astrologically?
Not to be forgotten is Comet P/2019 (LD2) (also known as Comet P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS)). According to NASA, "The unexpected visitor belongs to a class of icy bodies found in space between Jupiter and Neptune. Called "Centaurs," they become active for the first time when heated as they approach the Sun, and dynamically transition into becoming more comet-like." This Centaur/comet has made a temporary stop among the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter, but is quite spectacular. Its tail is around 400,000 miles long! I don't have an emphemeris for it but you can read more about it here: Comet Makes a Pit Stop Near Jupiter's Asteroids
Back to Chiron's FriendsHow many Centaurs are there now?
Counting Chiron, there are 97 so far with official numbers, and who knows how many unnumbered ones.
- Nineteen have been given names:
- Amycus (55576)
- Aphidas (121725)
- Asbolus (8405)
- Bienor (54598)
- Chariklo (10199)
- Chiron (2060)
- Crantor (83982)
- Cyllarus (52975)
- Echeclus (60558)
- Elatus (31824)
- Hidalgo (944)
- Hylonome (10370)
- Nessus (7066)
- Okyrhoe (52872)
- Orius (330836)
- Pelion (49036)
- Pholus (5145)
- Rhiphonos (346889)
- Thereus (32532)
- 78 have been given numbers, but not named yet:
Number Provisional designation Name Type 12929 1999 TZ1 Unnamed Centaur 29981 1999 TD10 Unnamed Centaur 33128 1998 BU48 Unnamed Centaur 44594 1999 OX3 Unnamed Centaur 54520 2000 PJ30 Unnamed Centaur 60608 2000 ee17 Unnamed Centaur 63252 2001 BL41 Unnamed Centaur 73480 2002 PN34 Unnamed Centaur 78799 2002 XW9 Unnamed Centaur 87269 2000 OO67 Unnamed Centaur 87555 2000 QB243 Unnamed Centaur 88269 2001 KF77 Unnamed Centaur 91554 1999 RZ215 Unnamed Centaur 95626 2002 GZ32 Unnamed Centaur 119315 2001 SQ73 Unnamed Centaur 119976 2002 VR130 Unnamed Centaur 120061 2003 CO1 Unnamed Centaur 120181 2003 UR292 Unnamed Centaur 127546 2002 XU93 Unnamed Centaur 136204 2003 WL7 Unnamed Centaur 145486 2005 UJ438 Unnamed Centaur 148975 2001 XA255 Unnamed Centaur 149560 2003 QZ91 Unnamed Centaur 160427 2005 RL43 Unnamed Centaur 187661 2007 JG43 Unnamed Centaur 241097 2007 DU112 Unnamed Centaur 248835 2006 SX368 Unnamed Centaur 250112 2002 KY14 Unnamed Centaur 281371 2008 FC76 Unnamed Centaur 208933 2006 SQ372 Unnamed Centaur 309139 2006 XQ51 Unnamed Centaur 309239 2007 RW10 Unnamed Centaur 309737 2008 SJ236 Unnamed Centaur 309741 2008 UZ6 Unnamed Centaur 310071 2010 KR59 Unnamed Centaur 315898 2008 QD4 Unnamed Centaur 316179 2010 EN65 Unnamed Centaur 328884 2010 LJ109 Unnamed Centaur 332685 2009 HH36 Unnamed Centaur 336756 2010 NV1 Unnamed Centaur 341275 2007 RG283 Unnamed Centaur 342842 2008 YB3 Unnamed Centaur 349933 2009 YF7 Unnamed Centaur 353222 2009 YD7 Unnamed Centaur 382004 2010 RM64 Unnamed Centaur 386968 2012 BR61 Unnamed Centaur 389820 2011 WU92 Unnamed Centaur 395699 2012 GN12 Unnamed Centaur 413666 2005 VJ119 Unnamed Centaur 418993 2009 MS9 Unnamed Centaur 427507 2002 DH5 Unnamed Centaur 433873 2015 BQ311 Unnamed Centaur 437313 2013 EK73 Unnamed Centaur 447178 2005 RO43 Unnamed Centaur 449097 2012 UT68 Unnamed Centaur 459865 2013 XZ8 Unnamed Centaur 459870 2014 AT28 Unnamed Centaur 459971 2014 ON6 Unnamed Centaur 463368 2012 VU85 Unnamed Centaur 463663 2014 HY123 Unnamed Centaur 468861 2013 LU28 Unnamed Centaur 469442 2002 GG166 Unnamed Centaur 469750 2005 PU21 Unnamed Centaur 470309 2007 JK43 Unnamed Centaur 470593 2008 LP17 Unnamed Centaur 471272 2011 FY9 Unnamed Centaur 471149 2010 FB49 Unnamed Centaur 471155 2010 GF65 Unnamed Centaur 471237 2011 AC72 Unnamed Centaur 471325 2011 KT19 Unnamed Centaur 471335 2011 OD16 Unnamed Centaur 471339 2011 ON45 Unnamed Centaur 471512 2012 CG Unnamed Centaur 471513 2012 CE17 Unnamed Centaur 471931 2013 PH44 Unnamed Centaur 472265 2014 SR303 Unnamed Centaur 472651 2015 DB216 Unnamed Centaur 472760 2015 FZ117 Unnamed Centaur I would like to propose the idea that ALL the Centaurs are in the universe to teach us about various processes. Perhaps you have heard me talk about how I feel Chiron does not rule a sign, as the planets are said to do, but rather a four-sign process going from Virgo to Sagittarius. Chiron rules any process involving moving between Saturn and Uranus. Each of the Centaurs, I feel, also rules a process, and this will be the key to understanding them in our lives.
I've devised initial symbols for many of the unnamed Centaurs --- something to use until official symbols are agreed upon. To see these glyphs, go to my provisional symbol page.