944 Hidalgo /hɪˈdælɡoʊ/ is a centaur and unusual object on an eccentric, cometary-like orbit between the asteroid belt and the outer Solar System, approximately 52 kilometers (32 miles) in diameter.German astronomers who were in Mexico to observe a total eclipse on 10 September 1923 had an audience with President Álvaro Obregón.[4] The Minor Planet Center classifies it both as main-belt asteroid and unusual object due to an orbital eccentricity higher than 0.5.[7][8] The prominent JPL Small-Body Database currently gives a diameter of 38 kilometers taken from the publication Hazards due to Comets and Asteroids (Tom Gehrels, 1994).[6] In the late 1990s, a network of astronomers worldwide gathered lightcurve data that was ultimately used to derive the spin states and shape models of 10 new asteroids, including Hidalgo.