Centaur (minor Planet) - Classification

Classification

The generic definition of a centaur is a small body that orbits the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune and crosses the orbits of one or more of the giant planets. Due to the inherent long-term instability of orbits in this region, even centaurs such as 2000 GM₁₃₇ and 2001 XZ₂₅₅, which do not currently cross the orbit of any planet, are in gradually changing orbits that will be perturbed until they start to cross the orbit of one or more of the giant planets.

However, different institutions have different criteria for classifying borderline objects, based on particular values of their orbital elements:

• The Minor Planet Center (MPC) defines centaurs as having a perihelion beyond the orbit of Jupiter and a semi-major axis less than that of Neptune.
• The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) similarly defines centaurs as having a semi-major axis, a, between those of Jupiter and Neptune (5.5 AU < a < 30.1 AU).
• In contrast, the Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) defines centaurs using a dynamical classification scheme. These classifications are based on the simulated change in behavior of the present orbit when extended over 10 million years. The DES defines centaurs as non-resonant objects whose instantaneous (osculating) perihelia are less than the osculating semi-major axis of Neptune at any time during the simulation. This definition is intended to be synonymous with planet-crossing orbits and to suggest comparatively short lifetimes in the current orbit.

The collection The Solar System Beyond Neptune (2008) uses the traditional definition of centaurs, limited to semi-major axes smaller than that of Neptune, classifying the objects on unstable orbits beyond this limit as members of the scattered disk. Yet, other astronomers still prefer to define centaurs as objects that are non-resonant with a perihelion inside the orbit of Neptune that can be shown to likely cross the Hill sphere of a gas giant within the next 10 million years. Thus centaurs can be thought of as inward scattered objects that interact more aggressively and scatter more quickly than typical scattered disc objects.

The JPL Small-Body Database lists 183 centaurs. There are an additional 40 trans-Neptunian objects with a semi-major axis further than Neptune (a > 30.1 AU) and perihelion closer than the orbit of Uranus (q < 19 AU). The Committee on Small Body Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union has not formally weighed in on either side of the debate. Instead, it has adopted the following naming convention for such objects: befitting their centaur-like transitional orbits between TNOs and comets, "objects on unstable, non-resonant, giant-planet-crossing orbits with semimajor axes greater than Neptune's" are to be named for other hybrid and shape-shifting mythical creatures. Thus far, only the binary objects Ceto and Phorcys and Typhon and Echidna have been named according to the new policy.

Other objects caught between these differences in classification methods include (44594) 1999 OX₃, which has a semi-major axis of 32 AU but crosses the orbits of both Uranus and Neptune. Among the inner centaurs, 2005 VD, with a perihelion distance very near Jupiter, is listed as a centaur by both JPL and DES.

Centaurs with measured diameters listed as possible dwarf planets according to Mike Brown's website include 10199 Chariklo, 2060 Chiron, and 54598 Bienor.