166P/NEAT

For other comets discovered by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking survey, see Comet NEAT (disambiguation).

166P/NEAT is a periodic 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.^[6]

166P/NEAT

Discovery
Discovered by	NEAT
Discovery date	October 15, 2001
Designations
Alternative designations	P/2001 T4
Orbital characteristics
Epoch	March 6, 2006
Aphelion	19.1 AU
Perihelion	8.559 AU
Semi-major axis	13.83 AU
Eccentricity	0.3811
Orbital period	51.43 a
Inclination	15.3813°
Last perihelion	May 20, 2002[1]
Next perihelion	November 26, 2053[2][3][4][5]

166P/NEAT has a perihelion distance of 8.56 AU,^[1] and is a Chiron-type comet with (T_Jupiter > 3; a > a_Jupiter).^[1]