List of exceptional asteroids
Name Cometary name Comment
2060 Chiron 95P/Chiron First centaur discovered in 1977 , later identified to exhibit cometary behaviour . Also one of two minor planets known to have a ring system
4015 Wilson-Harrington 107P/Wilson-Harrington In 1992 , it was realized that asteroid 1979 VA 's orbit matched it with the positions of the lost comet Wilson-Harrington ( 1949 III )
7968 Elst-Pizarro 133P/Elst-Pizarro Discovered in 1996 as a comet , but orbitally matched to asteroid 1979 OW 7
60558 Echeclus 174P/Echeclus Centaur discovered in 2000 , comet designation assigned in 2006
118401 LINEAR 176P/LINEAR ( LINEAR 52 ) Main-belt comet - asteroid discovered to have a coma on November 26 , 2005
Timeline -- Numbered minor planets that are also comets
The following is a collection of lists of exceptional asteroids in the Solar System. For the purposes of this article asteroid means minor planet up to the orbit of Jupiter, which includes the dwarf planet Ceres. For a complete list of minor planets in numerical order, see List of minor planets. Asteroids are given minor planet numbers, but not all minor planets are asteroids. Minor planet numbers are also given to objects of the Kuiper belt, which is similar to the asteroid belt but farther out around 30-60 AU, whereas asteroids are mostly between 2-3 AU from the Sun. Also, comets are not typically included under minor planet numbers, and have their own naming methodology. Asteroids are given a unique sequential identifying number once their orbit is precisely determined. Prior to this, they are known only by their systematic name or provisional designation, such as .