166P/NEAT
Discovery siteNear Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT)
Discovery date15 October 2001
Mpc nameP/2001 T4
Epoch21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5)
Observation arc7.51 years
Earliest precovery date27 August 2001
Obs177
Perihelion8.555 AU
Aphelion19.142 AU
Semimajor13.849 AU
Eccentricity0.38222
Period51.537 years
Inclination15.386°
Asc node64.335°
Arg peri321.99°
Mean163.94°
Tjup3.284
Earth moid7.582 AU
Jupiter moid3.693 AU
Mean radius14.32 km (8.90 mi)[1]
M 17.0
M 210.6
Last p20 May 2002
Next p26 November 2053[2][3]

166P/NEAT is a Chiron-type comet and centaur in the outer Solar System. It was discovered by the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) project in 2001 and initially classified a comet with provisional designation P/2001 T4 (NEAT), as it was apparent from the discovery observations that the body exhibited a cometary coma. It is one of few known bodies with centaur-like orbits that display a coma, along with 60558 Echeclus, 2060 Chiron, 165P/LINEAR and 167P/CINEOS. It is also one of the reddest centaurs ever known.[4]

166P/NEAT has a perihelion distance of 8.56 astronomical units.[5]

References

  1. ^ J. C. Shi & Y. H. Ma (2015). "CCD photometry of active Centaur 166P/2001 T4 (NEAT)". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 454 (4): 3635–3640. Bibcode:2015MNRAS.454.3635S. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv2274
  2. ^ Syuichi Nakano (2005-06-30). "166P/NEAT (2001 T4) (NK 1187)". OAA Computing and Minor Planet Sections. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  3. ^ "Horizons Batch for 166P/NEAT on 2053-Nov-26" (Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons. Retrieved 2023-07-06. (JPL#51 Soln.date: 2021-Apr-15)
  4. ^ J. M. Bauer; Y. R. Fernández; K. J. Meech (2003). "An Optical Survey of the Active Centaur C/NEAT (2001 T4)". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 115 (81): 981–989. Bibcode:2003PASP..115..981B. doi:10.1086/377012
  5. ^ "166P/NEAT – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 2008-09-14.