167P/CINEOS

167P/CINEOS (Template:Mp) is a large periodic comet and active, grey centaur, approximately Template:Convert in diameter, orbiting the Sun outside the orbit of Saturn. It was discovered on August 10, 2004, by astronomers with the CINEOS survey at Gran Sasso in Italy. It is one of only a handful known Chiron-type comets.

The comet nucleus (~66 km) is roughly half the size of Template:Mpl (Bernardinelli–Bernstein) and it has a similar perihelion point just outside the orbit of Saturn.

Large comets with perihelion near Saturn's orbit at 10 AU

Comet	Nucleus diameter	Perihelion (Sun approach)	Perihelion velocity
95P/Chiron	215 km	8.5 AU	12.0 km/s
C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli–Bernstein)	120 km	10.95 AU	12.7 km/s
167P/CINEOS	66 km	11.77 AU	9.8 km/s

Description

Due to its high Jupiter tisserand of 3.5, and a semi-major axis larger than that of Jupiter, 167P/CINEOS is classified as a Chiron-type comet, named after the groups namesake, 2060 Chiron or 95P/Chiron, designated as both minor planet and comet.

167P/CINEOS was first reported as a minor planet, designated Template:Mp, but was found to have a very faint asymmetric cometary coma. Contrary to Chiron, which is the prototype object for the dynamical group of centaurs, 167P/CINEOS has no "dual status" as comet and minor planet, and demonstrates the inconsistencies in applying the current rules for designating small Solar System bodies. 167P/CINEOS not only has orbital parameters similar to those of Chiron, but also a low B–R magnitude of Template:Val, which places it into the group grey centaurs.

In June 2039, 167P/CINEOS will pass 1.64 AU from Uranus.

External links

• 167P on Seiichi Yoshida's comet list
• Template:JPL small body