Although it was initially called an asteroid and classified only as a minor planet with the designation "2060 Chiron", in 1989 it was found to exhibit behavior typical of a comet.

Son of the Titan Cronus and the nymph Philyra, Chiron was the wisest and most just of all centaurs, serving as an instructor of the Greek heroes.

A symbol was devised for it by Al H. Morrison and is mostly used among astrologers: it resembles a key as well as an OK monogram for Object Kowal.

According to the program Solex, Chiron's closest approach to Saturn in modern times was around May 720, when it came within 30.5±2.0 million km (0.204 ± 0.013 AU) of the planet.

[8] The visible and near-infrared spectrum of Chiron is neutral,[27] and is similar to that of C-type asteroids and the nucleus of Halley's Comet.

Lightcurve analysis gave a concurring, well-defined rotational period of 5.918 hours with a small brightness variation of 0.05 to 0.09 magnitude, which indicates that the body has a rather spheroidal shape (U=3/3/3).

[13][14][15][16][17] The assumed size of an object depends on its absolute magnitude (H) and the albedo (the amount of light it reflects).

[12] The diameter of Chiron is difficult to estimate in part because the true absolute magnitude of its nucleus is uncertain due to its highly variable cometary activity.

[40] In 1995 carbon monoxide was detected in Chiron in very small amounts, and the derived CO production rate was calculated to be sufficient to account for the observed coma.

[42] At the time of its discovery, Chiron was close to aphelion, whereas the observations showing a coma were done closer to perihelion, perhaps explaining why no cometary behavior had been seen earlier.

[29] Chiron is officially designated as both a comet—95P/Chiron—and a minor planet,[4][18] an indication of the sometimes fuzzy dividing line between the two classes of object.

[4] Since the discovery of Chiron, other centaurs have been discovered, and nearly all are currently classified as minor planets, but are being observed for possible cometary behavior.

[44][45][46][c] Based on unexpected occultation events observed in stellar-occultation data obtained on 7 November 1993, 9 March 1994, and 29 November 2011, which were initially interpreted as resulting from jets associated with Chiron's comet-like activity, Chiron's rings were proposed to be 324±10 km in radius and sharply defined.

[44] Further evidence of the rings was provided by two independent observations of occultations on 28 November 2018 and 15 December 2022, which suggests that their structure is constantly evolving.

[48] There was another mission proposed, part of the Discovery Program known as Centaurus; if approved, it would have launched between 2026 and 2029 and made a flyby of 2060 Chiron and one other Centaur sometime in the 2030s.