Taowu, Chinese mythology for the damocloid centaur (471325) 2011 KT19

On February 3, 2025, the damocloid centaur 2011 KT19 was officially named (471325) Taowu.

 

"One of the Four Perils of Chinese mythology, Taowu is a ferocious and stubborn beast said to lurk within the western regions of China. It is depicted as having a human head, tiger legs, boar tusks, and a long tail." (WGSBN Bulletin 5, #2).

 

 

This mythological creature combines emotional and mental intelligence (human head), the ability to catch and grab its prey (tiger legs), initiative and forward momentum (boar tusks), and a great sense of balance when moving and rejoining (long tail).

 

The concept of 'peril' in Ancient China is explained in the hexagram nº 29 of I-Ching, entitled "“The Abysmal”". It refers to the ability to analyze all the possibilities and aspects of a situation, which allows one to find the correct and most appropriate solution to it.

 

The damocloid centaur Taowu is in resonance 1:18 with Jupiter (semi-major axis), which indicates faith and confidence in resolving situations that are untimely, out of place or inverted; and in resonance 1:2 with Neptune (aphelion), which indicates the capacity for infiltration. Its retrograde and highly inclined orbit is related to inner experiences that are very far from the everyday and the habitual.

(471325) 2011 KT19 [Taowu], a very surprising alternative solution

(471325) 2011 KT19 [Taowu] is a damocloid object discovered in May of 2011. It reached the perihelion in March of 1999.

The orbit is between the zone of orbital piercing from Uranus to Neptune, and the lower edge of the Kuiper cliff. It has a perihelion of 23.78 AU and an aphelion of 47.42 AU. The semimajor axis is at 35.60 AU. It has an orbital period of 212 years. It has an inclination of 110.1º (=180º-69.9º; retrograde movement).
 
The damocloid centaur 2011 KT19 [Taowu] was lost shortly after its discovery, until its rediscovery in March of 2015. In August of 2016 it was nicknamed 'Niku' (a Chinese adjective meaning 'rebellious').

Orbital resonance:
7:9 with Neptune (99.9%)
7:6 with Pluto (99.8%)
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17:13 with Uni (99.9%)
21:8 with Eris (99.9%)
16:11 with Chaos (99.9%)
19:13 with Makemake (99.8%)
17:11 with Aya (99.8%)
4:3 with Varuna (99.8%)
 

Between a rock and a hard place

The damocloid centaur 2011 KT19 [Taowu] is related with the exit phase of closed situations (lower limit of the Kuiper cliff), in which there are many scattered elements and their identity is not clear or there is confusion about the connections between them (orbital piercing from Uranus towards Neptune).

"The Lincoln Lawyer" (2011)

The damocloid centaur 2011 KT19 [Taowu] has the ability to solve difficult situations, in which it seems that there is no exit in one way or another, through a very surprising alternative solution (high orbital inclination), like in the movie "The Lincoln Lawyer" (2011); or, can find a very original explanation for a situation in which none of the common-sense hypotheses is valid, like in the movie "Unknown" (2011).