Echeclus is classified as a centaur. Centaurs are small bodies orbiting the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune that cross the orbits of one or more of the giant planets. Since the centaurs cross the orbits of the giant planets and are not protected by orbital resonances, their orbits are unstable within a timescale of 1 to 10 million years. In late December 2005 a cometary coma was detected around Echeclus so in 2006 the Committee on Small Bodies Nomenclature (CSBN) gave it the cometary designation 174P/Echeclus.
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Imaged on April 17th and 18th 2009 using the 0.61m f/10 Cassegrain at the Sierra Stars Observatory. 120 seconds unfiltered image, cut down to 5 x 5 arc minutes. Echeclus was at magnitude 19.5.
Martin Nicholson - Daventry, United Kingdom. The image was taken using the facilities provided by the Sierra Stars Observatory Network (SSON).
This page was last updated on February 7th 2011.