Celestia Forums

THis is an issue that has been plaguing me for a while now and you guys generally know your stuff. I've read on numerous occasions a rough time table for a "close approach" of Saturn by the Asteroid/Comet 2060 Chiron. Usually this theory is prefaced by "might" or "could possibly" so I'm not even sure if its set in stone, but I've heard time frames like 10,000 and 20,000 years in the future. Is there any validity to this theory and if so could Celestia model the point at which this supposed "close encounter" will occur?

Chiron will pass 203,000,000 from Saturn in 2242, 177,000,000 in 2488, & 167,000,000 in 2833. I don't think Chiron's orbit is known well enough to predict much further into the future. All these passes alter Chiron's orbit noticably. Chiron even becomes both a Uranus-crosser and a Saturn-crosser at the same time.

Using JPL's Horizons data to set up the solar system in 2004 yields this simulation showing Chiron's path passing just 62 million kilometers from Saturn in 8323. But it probably contains such a large margin of error due to the time elapsed as to render it useless.