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In 1988 it was found that Chiron was undergoing an outburst in brightness (by about one magnitude), which is behavior typical of comets but not asteroids. Further observations in 1989 showed that Chiron had developed a cometary coma.

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

Chiron is officially both a comet and an asteroid, more proof of the very fuzzy dividing line. As a comet, its name is 95P/Chiron. There are two other asteroids that are also listed as comets: 4015 Wilson-Harrington and 7968 Elst-Pizarro.

Chiron is now classified as a centaurThe centaurs are a class of icy planetoids that orbit the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune, named after the mythical race of centaurs. The first centaur to be discovered, 2060 Chiron was found to display a coma upon its approach to perihelion, and is now o, the first of a class of objects orbiting between the outer planetA planet (from the Greek , planetes or "wanderers") is a body of considerable mass that orbits a star and that produces very little or no energy through nuclear fusion. Prior to the 1990s only nine were known (all of them in our own solar system); as of 3s. Centaurs are not in stable orbits and will eventually be removed by the giant planets. Chiron is probably a refugee from the Kuiper beltThe Kuiper belt ("KYE per") is an area of the solar system extending from within the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to 50 AU from the sun, at inclinations consistent with the ecliptic. Origins The first astronomers to suggest the existence of this belt were.

Other centaurs such as 5145 Pholus5145 Pholus ("FOE luss") is a Centaur in an eccentric orbit, with a perihelion near the orbit of Saturn and aphelion near the orbit of Neptune. It is believed to have originated as a Kuiper belt object. It was discovered by David L. Rabinowitz then of the are being observed for possible cometary behavior, but none has been seen so far.

Its discovery was publicized enough in the popular press that a school in astrology emerged assigning it a great importance.