52872 Okyrhoe is a

centaur A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...

orbiting in the

outer Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

between

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

and

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

. It was discovered on 19 September 1998, by the

Spacewatch The Spacewatch Project is an astronomical survey that specializes in the study of minor planets, including various types of asteroids and comets at University of Arizona telescopes on Kitt Peak near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. The Sp ...

survey at

Kitt Peak Observatory The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With more than ...

in Arizona, United States, and named after

Ocyrhoe Ocyrhoe (; Ancient Greek: Ὠκυρόη) or Ocyrrhoe (Ὠκυρρόη) refers to at least five characters in Greek mythology. * Ocyrrhoe, one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and his sister-spouse Tethys. She wa ...

from Greek mythology.

Orbit and classification

Centaurs have short dynamical lives due to strong interactions with the giant planets. ''Okyrhoe'' is estimated to have an orbital

half-life Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...

of about 670 thousand years. Of objects listed as a centaur by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

(MPC), JPL, and the

Deep Ecliptic Survey The Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) is a project to find Kuiper belt objects (KBOs), using the facilities of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The principal investigator is Robert L. Millis. Since 1998 through the end of 2003, the sur ...

(DES), Okyrhoe has the second smallest

perihelion An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ellip ...

distance of a numbered centaur. Numbered centaur has a smaller perihelion distance.

Naming

It was named after

, the daughter of

Chiron In Greek mythology, Chiron ( ; also Cheiron or Kheiron; ) was held to be the superlative centaur amongst his brethren since he was called the "wisest and justest of all the centaurs". Biography Chiron was notable throughout Greek mythology ...

and

Chariclo Chariclo ( or ; grc, Χαρικλώ, Khariklṓ, graceful spinner) is either of two nymphs in Greek mythology: * Chariclo, a nymph who was married the centaur Chiron and became the mother of Hippe, Endeïs, Ocyrhoe, and Carystus. In some accounts ...

from Greek mythology.

Physical characteristics

Sublimation

Okyrhoe passed

in early 2008, and exhibited significant magnitude variations during March and April 2008. This could be a sign of sublimation of volatiles.

References

External links