Estimates for the number of centaurs in the Solar System more than 1 km in diameter range from as low as 44,000 to more than 10,000,000. Observational bias toward large objects makes determination of the total centaur population difficult. They are named after the mythological centaurs that were a mixture of horse and human. Centaurs typically exhibit the characteristics of both asteroids and comets. Known centaur, 514107 Kaʻepaokaʻawela, which may be in a stable (though retrograde) orbit.
Centaurs generally have unstable orbits because they cross or have crossed the orbits of one or more of the giant planets almost all their orbits have dynamic lifetimes of only a few million years, but there is one In planetary astronomy, a centaur is a small Solar System body with either a perihelion or a semi-major axis between those of the outer planets.
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