An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

An → asteroid that belongs to the class of → Centaurs (discovered through stellar → occultation observations). At just 250 km across, Chariklo is the smallest body so far found to have rings. There are two dense rings, with respective widths of about 7 and 3 km, → optical depth of 0.4 and 0.06, and orbital radii of 391 and 405 km (see F. Braga-Ribas et al. Nature, 2014, 26 March).

See also: From Khariklo, the name of a nymph in Greek mythology, the wife of → Chiron and the daughter of → Apollo.