Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovered by | Carl W. Hergenrother |
Discovery date | November 22, 1998 |
Designations | |
P/1998 W2 P/2005 N2 | |
Orbital characteristics | |
Epoch | March 6, 2006 |
Aphelion | 5.839 AU |
Perihelion | 1.426 AU |
Semi-major axis | 3.632 AU |
Eccentricity | 0.6075 |
Orbital period | 6.923 a |
Inclination | 21.8934° |
Last perihelion | August 5, 2019 [1] [2] October 1, 2012 [3] November 2, 2005 |
Next perihelion | 2026-May-18 [1] |
Earth MOID | 0.4 AU (60 million km) |
168P/Hergenrother is a periodic comet in the Solar System. The comet originally named P/1998 W2 returned in 2005 and got the temporary name P/2005 N2. [4] The comet was last observed in January 2020, [1] and may have continued fragmenting after the 2012 outburst.
The comet came to perihelion on October 1, 2012, [3] and was expected to reach about apparent magnitude 15.2, but due to an outburst the comet reached apparent magnitude 8. [5] As a result of the outburst of gas and dust, the comet was briefly more than 500 times brighter than it would have been without the outburst. [6] On October 19, 2012, images by the Virtual Telescope Project showed a dust cloud trailing the nucleus. [7] Images by the 2 m (79 in) Faulkes Telescope North on October 26, 2012, confirm a fragmentation event. [8] The secondary fragment was about magnitude 17. Further observations by the 8.1 m (320 in) Gemini telescope show that the comet fragmented into at least four parts. [9]
168P came to perihelion on August 5, 2019, [1] when it was 76 degrees from the Sun. It then made a closest approach to Earth on 6 November 6, 2019, when it was 1 AU (150 million km ) from Earth with a solar elongation of about 110 degrees. It was not recovered until January 3, 2020, when it was 141 degrees from the Sun, but only two observations on a single night were reported.
Comet Giacobini–Zinner is a periodic comet in the Solar System. It was discovered by Michel Giacobini, who observed it in the constellation of Aquarius on December 20, 1900. It was recovered two orbits later by Ernst Zinner, while he was observing variable stars near Beta Scuti on October 23, 1913.
28P/Neujmin, also known as Neujmin 1, is a large periodic comet in the Solar System. With a perihelion distance of 1.5AU, this comet does not make close approaches to the Earth.
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78P/Gehrels, also known as Gehrels 2, is a Jupiter-family periodic comet in the Solar System with a current orbital period of 7.22 years.
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165P/LINEAR is a periodic comet in the Solar System. 165P/LINEAR has a perihelion distance of 6.8 AU, and is a Chiron-type comet with.
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Comet Finlay is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 6 years discovered by William Henry Finlay on September 26, 1886. The next perihelion passage is July 13, 2021 when the comet will have a solar elongation of 54 degrees at approximately apparent magnitude 10. It last came to perihelion on December 27, 2014, at around magnitude 10. Of the numbered periodic comets, the orbit of 15P/Finlay has one of the smallest minimum orbit intersection distances with the orbit of Earth (E-MOID). In October 2060 the comet will pass about 5 million km from Earth.
Comet Taylor, is a periodic comet in the Solar System, first discovered by Clement J. Taylor on November 24, 1915.
45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková is a short-period comet discovered by Minoru Honda December 3, 1948. It is named after Minoru Honda, Antonín Mrkos, and Ľudmila Pajdušáková. The object revolves around the Sun on an elliptical orbit with a period of 5.25 years. The nucleus is 1.3 kilometers in diameter. On August 19 and 20, 2011, it became the fifteenth comet detected by ground radar telescope.
144P/Kushida is a periodic comet discovered in January, 1994, by Yoshio Kushida at the Yatsugatake South Base Observatory in Japan. This was the first comet discovery of 1994 and his second discovery within a month. It next comes to perihelion on 25 January 2024 and should brighten to about magnitude 9.
163P/NEAT is a periodic comet discovered on November 5, 2004 by Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) using the 1.2 meter Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory.
62P/Tsuchinshan, also known as Tsuchinshan 1, is a periodic comet discovered on 1965 January 1 at Purple Mountain Observatory, Nanking. It will next come to perihelion on 25 December 2023 at around apparent magnitude 8, and will be 0.53 AU (79 million km) from Earth and 110 degrees from the Sun.