Discovery date 26 April 1993 Alternative names 1993 HA2 Adjectives Nessian Inclination 15.66868° Named after Nessus (Greek mythology) | MPC designation 7066 Nessus Minor planet category Centaur Discovered 26 April 1993 Discoverer David L. Rabinowitz Asteroid group Centaur | |
Discovered by Spacewatch
(D. Rabinowitz uncredited) Discovery site Kitt Peak National Observatory Similar David L Rabinowitz discoveries, Other celestial objects | ||
7066 Nessus (/ˈnɛsəs/; from Greek: Νέσσος) is a centaur (a type of icy minor planet) that was discovered by David L. Rabinowitz, working with Spacewatch, at Kitt Peak on 26 April 1993. It was the second centaur found by him (5145 Pholus being his previous find), and the third centaur discovery (2060 Chiron, discovered by Charles Kowal in 1977, was the first). Nessus was officially announced on May 13, 1993, in IAUC 5789 with designation 1993 HA2.
Orbit
7066 Nessus has an orbital period of 122.4 years, an eccentricity of 0.52 and an inclination to the ecliptic of 15.6 degrees. At perihelion, it moves much closer to the Sun than Uranus, while at aphelion it moves out well beyond the orbit of Neptune.
The orbits of centaurs are unstable due to perturbations by the giant planets. Nessus is an "SE object" because currently Saturn controls its perihelion and its aphelion is within the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt. Nessus is estimated to have a relatively long orbital half-life of about 4.9 Myr. Fifty clones of the orbit of Nessus suggest that Nessus will not pass within 1AU (150 Gm) of a planet for at least twenty thousand years.