External links
- 185P/Petriew at the JPL Small-Body Database
- The Discovery of Comet Petriew in Vance Petriew's website
| Discovery [1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Vance Avery Petriew |
| Discovery date | 18 August 2001 |
| Designations | |
| P/2001 Q2, P/2007 A3 | |
| Orbital characteristics [2] | |
| Epoch | 17 April 2015 |
| Aphelion | 5.267 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.934 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 3.100 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.6988 |
| Orbital period | 5.46 years |
| Inclination | 13.997° |
| 214.101° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 181.938° |
| Last perihelion | 12 July 2023 |
| Next perihelion | 26 December 2028 [3] |
| TJupiter | 2.750 |
| Earth MOID | 0.061 AU |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 13.6 [2] |
185P/Petriew is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 5.5 years. It was discovered by amateur astronomer Vance Avery Petriew on 18 August 2001. [1]
Vance Avery Petriew discovered the comet visually with a 0.51-m reflector telescope during a star party in Cypress Hills, Canada, on 18 August 2001, while he was searching for the Crab Nebula. [1] He became the third amateur Canadian to discover a comet. [4] Petriew estimated that the comet had an apparent magnitude of 11, a coma about three arcminutes across and no tail. [5] For the discovery V. A. Petriew was awarded the Edgar Wilson Award in 2002. [6] The comet was also observed by other participants of the party. Alan Hale imaged the comet with a CCD on 19 August and estimated the comet had an apparent magnitude of about 13. [5]
The comet continued to brighten during August, reaching magnitude 10. The coma diameter was reported to be 2 to 4 arcminutes. No tail was observed visually, but CCD imaging revealed the presence of a narrow tail. [1] The comet was observed spectographically in September 2001 and was found to have normal production rates of diatomic carbon and water for a Halley-type comet. [7] The comet was quickly found to be periodic, with a period of about 5.5 years. The comet had approached Jupiter to a distance of 0.146 AU (21.8 million km) on 3 July 1982 [2] and as a result its perihelion distance was decreased from 1.37 AU to 1.00 AU. [1]
The comet was recovered on 11 January 2007 by F. Fratev, E. Mihaylova, and A. Kirchev using a 0.25m reflector telescope at Zvezdno Obshtestvo Observatory in Plana, Bulgaria. The comet then had an apparent magnitude of 16.1 and a diffuse coma 0.2 arcminutes across. [8] After recovery, the comet was given the number 185P. [9]
185P/Petriew could be the parent body of a meteor shower that was first observed on 26–27 October 2024 with a radiant in Lyra. [10]
