60558 Echeclus
Echeclus (circled) photographed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at Apache Point Observatory on 16 April 2001 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Spacewatch |
| Discovery site | Kitt Peak Obs. |
| Discovery date | 3 March 2000 |
| Designations | |
| (60558) Echeclus | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɛkɪkləs/ |
Named after | Ἔχεκλος Ekheklos |
| 2000 EC98, 2002 GJ27 | |
| centaur | |
| Symbol | (astrological) |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 13264 days (36.31 yr) |
| Aphelion | 15.544 AU (2.3253 Tm) |
| Perihelion | 5.8168 AU (870.18 Gm) |
| 10.680 AU (1.5977 Tm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.45537 |
| 34.90 yr (12749 d) | |
Average orbital speed | 8.58 km/s |
| 7.51102° | |
| 0° 1m 41.657s / day | |
| Inclination | 4.3445° |
| 173.335° | |
| 162.889° | |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.838867 AU (125.4927 Gm) |
| TJupiter | 3.031 |
| Proper orbital elements | |
Proper mean motion | 0.0282 deg / yr |
Proper orbital period | 12765.95745 yr (4662765.957 d) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 60 km | |
| 26.802 h (1.1168 d) | |
| 0.04 | |
| Temperature | ~85 K |
| B–V = 0.841±0.072 V–R = 0.502±0.065 | |
| ~18.8 | |
| 9.6 | |
60558 Echeclus /ˈɛkɪkləs/ is a centaur, approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) in diameter, located in the outer Solar System. It was discovered by Spacewatch in 2000 and initially classified as a minor planet with provisional designation 2000 EC98. Research in 2001 by Rousselot and Petit at the Besançon observatory in France indicated that it was not a comet, but in December 2005 a cometary coma was detected. In early 2006 the Committee on Small Bodies Nomenclature (CSBN) gave it the cometary designation 174P/Echeclus. It last came to perihelion in April 2015, and was expected to reach about apparent magnitude 16.7 near opposition in September 2015.