60558 Echeclus is a centaur in the outer solar system. It was discovered by Spacewatch in 2000 and initially classified as an asteroid with provisional designation 2000 EC98, but in late December 2005 a cometary coma was detected. In early 2006 [1] the Committee on Small Bodies Nomenclature gave it the cometary designation 174P/Echeclus. The centaurs are a class of icy planetoids that orbit the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune, named after the mythical race of centaurs. ... Presentation of the solar system (not to scale) The solar system comprises the Earths Sun and the retinue of celestial objects gravitationally bound to it. ... Spacewatch is a project at the University of Arizona that specializes in the study of minor planets, and including various types of asteroids and comets. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. ... The provisional designation of comets and asteroids are similar to each other: they both follow a pattern set in 1925 by the Minor Planet Center of the IAU. Historical designations At first, astronomers strove to assign symbols to the minor planets: 1 Ceres a stylized sickle 2 Pallas a lozenge... The comet Ikeya-Zhang exhibiting a bright, condensed coma (march 2002) In astronomy, the nebulous envelope around the nucleus of a comet is called its coma (from the Latin word for hair). It is formed when the comet passes close to the sun on its highly elliptical orbit; as the... Comet Hale-Bopp For other uses, see Comet (disambiguation). ...
Echeclus is only the second comet (after Chiron) that has the same name as an asteroid (rather than the name of its discoverer(s) as with other comets). Chiron is also a centaur; other centaurs are being observed for signs of a cometary coma. 2060 Chiron (IPA: ) is an object in the outer solar system with an orbit between those of Saturn and Uranus and a radius of 71±5 km [1]. Although it was initially classified as an asteroid, later dispute arose as to whether it was an asteroid or actually a comet. ...
Two other objects are cross-listed as both comets and asteroids: 133P/Elst-Pizarro (7968 Elst-Pizarro) and 4015 Wilson-Harrington (107P/Wilson-Harrington). Comet Elst-Pizarro is a periodic comet (formally designated 133P/Elst-Pizarro). ... Comet Elst-Pizarro is a periodic comet (formally designated 133P/Elst-Pizarro). ... Comet Wilson-Harrington is a periodic comet (formally designated 107P/Wilson-Harrington). ... Comet Wilson-Harrington is a periodic comet (formally designated 107P/Wilson-Harrington). ...
External links
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/coms06.htm
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