![]() The comet on 18 August 2009 by the Palomar Transient Factory | |
Discovery [1] | |
---|---|
Discovered by | LINEAR |
Discovery date | July 11, 2001 |
Designations | |
P/2001 MD7, P/2009 F3 | |
Orbital characteristics [2] | |
Epoch | September 1, 2010 (2455440.5) |
Aphelion | 6.665 AU |
Perihelion | 1.224 AU |
Semi-major axis | 3.944 AU |
Eccentricity | 0.6896 |
Orbital period | 7.834 a 2861.4 d |
Inclination | 12.880° |
125.621° | |
Argument of periapsis | 246.767° |
Last perihelion | 16 July 2017 [3] |
Next perihelion | 24 May 2025 [3] |
TJupiter | 2.548 |
Earth MOID | 0.308 AU |
Comet total magnitude (M1) | 13.8 [2] |
217P/LINEAR is a periodic Jupiter-family comet with an orbital period of 7.83 years. It was discovered by LINEAR on 11 July 2001. [1]
Upon discovery the comet was diffuse. It was later identified as an asteroidal object with an estimated magnitude of 17.6 detected on 21 and 24 June 2001, again by LINEAR, that had been named 2001 MD7. A preliminary orbit indicated an orbital period of 7.5 years. [1] The comet brightened up to an apparent magnitude of 12 from November 2001 to January 2002. [4]
The comet was recovered in images obtained remotely by Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero, and Paul Camilleri in images obtained on 17 and 18 March 2009 with a remotely operated reflector telescope with an estimated apparent magnitude of around 18.2. The comet has a diffuse coma 15 arcseconds across. [5] In mid October, around 13.4 October, 34 days after perihelion, an outburst took place, during which the comet brightened by 1.7 – 2.3 magnitudes and an expanding dust cloud was observed. The estimated mass loss from the comet was estimated to be 106–109 kg, while no fragments were observed. [6]
The comet is a near-Earth object, with a minimum orbit intersection distance of 0.308 AU (46.1 million km). The comet will approach Earth to a distance of 0.396 AU on 7 September 2048. The comet also has close approaches to Mars, approaching to a distance of 0.1 AU on 12 November 1905 and an even closer approach will take place on April 1, 2056, when the comet will approach to a distance of 0.064 AU (9.6 million km). [2]
12P/Pons–Brooks is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 71 years. Comets with an orbital period of 20–200 years are referred to as Halley-type comets. It is one of the brightest known periodic comets, reaching an absolute visual magnitude of about 5 in its approach to perihelion. Comet Pons-Brooks was conclusively discovered at Marseilles Observatory in July 1812 by Jean-Louis Pons, and on its next appearance in 1883 by William Robert Brooks. There are ancient records of comets that are suspected of having been apparitions of 12P/Pons–Brooks.
167P/CINEOS (P/2004 PY42) is a large periodic comet and active, grey centaur, approximately 66 kilometers (41 miles) in diameter, orbiting the Sun outside the orbit of Saturn. It was discovered on August 10, 2004, by astronomers with the CINEOS survey at Gran Sasso in Italy. It is one of only a handful known Chiron-type comets.
60558 Echeclus is a centaur, approximately 84 kilometers (52 miles) in diameter, located in the outer Solar System. It was discovered by Spacewatch in 2000 and initially classified as a minor planet with provisional designation 2000 EC98 (also written 2000 EC98). Research in 2001 by Rousselot and Petit at the Besançon observatory in France indicated that it was not a comet, but in December 2005 a cometary coma was detected. In early 2006 the Committee on Small Bodies Nomenclature (CSBN) gave it the cometary designation 174P/Echeclus. It last came to perihelion in April 2015, and was expected to reach about apparent magnitude 16.7 near opposition in September 2015.
Comet Schaumasse is a periodic comet discovered by Alexandre Schaumasse on 1 December 1911 as 12th magnitude. It next comes to perihelion on 8 January 2026 and should brighten to about magnitude 9.
C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya–Jones) is a long-period comet from the Oort cloud discovered on November 18, 2000, by Syogo Utsunomiya and Albert F. A. L. Jones. The comet reached up to apparent magnitude 5.5, but was only 27 degrees from the Sun in mid-December 2000.
479P/Elenin, with provisional designation P/2011 NO1 (Elenin), is a periodic comet with an orbital period estimated at 13.3 years.
125P/Spacewatch is a periodic Jupiter-family comet. It was discovered on September 8, 1991, by Tom Gehrels using the 0.91 m Spacewatch telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. It was the first comet discovered with the use of a CCD and also the faintest comet upon discovery up to that point. It has a diameter of 1.6 km.
C/2011 J2 (LINEAR) is an Oort cloud comet discovered on 4 May 2011 by LINEAR at an apparent magnitude of 19.7 using a 1-meter (39 in) Reflecting telescope. As of September 2014 the comet is around apparent magnitude 17.
Comet 252P/LINEAR is a periodic comet and near-Earth object discovered by the LINEAR survey on April 7, 2000. The comet is a Jupiter family comet, meaning that it passes quite close to the orbit of Jupiter.
104P/Kowal, also known as Kowal 2, is a periodic Jupiter-family comet discovered by Charles T. Kowal in 1979. The orbit was confirmed after new sightings in 1991 and 1998.
108P/Ciffréo is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 7 years discovered by Jacqueline Ciffréo on November 8, 1985. The comet is noted for having a peculiar double morphology, in which the nucleus is accompanied by a comoving, detached, diffuse tail, which is probably a perspective artifact of particles ejected sunwards and then repelled by solar wind.
126P/IRAS is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 13.4 years. It was discovered in images taken by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) on 28 July 1983 by J. Davies. The discovery was confirmed with images taken with the 1.2-m Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory.
Comet 141P/Machholz or 141P/Machholz 2 is a periodic Jupiter family comet with an orbital period of 5.3 years. It was discovered by Donald Machholz on 13 August 1994. A few days after the discovery a number of condensations were found near the main component of the comet, indicating that the comet had fragmented between 1987 and 1989, during its previous perihelion.
156P/Russell–LINEAR is a Jupiter family periodic comet with an orbital period of 6.4 years. It was discovered by Kenneth S. Russell in September 1986.
207P/NEAT is a periodic Jupiter-family comet with an orbital period of 7.62 years. It was discovered by Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) on 11 March 2001.
210P/Christensen is a Jupiter family periodic comet with an orbital period of 5.7 years. It was discovered by Eric J. Christensen on 26 May 2003 in images taken by the Catalina Sky Survey and recovered in images obtained by STEREO, the first time a single-apparition comet was recovered by a spacecraft.
226P/Pigott–LINEAR–Kowalski is a Jupiter family periodic comet with an orbital period of 7.3 years. It was discovered by Edward Pigott on 19 November 1783, but was subsequently lost, until it was recovered on 5 January 2003 by Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR). It will next come to perihelion on 27 December 2023 at about apparent magnitude 15.
249P/LINEAR is a periodic Jupiter-family comet with an orbital period of 4.61 years. It was discovered by LINEAR on 19 October 2006. It is only active for a brief period around perihelion.
C/2021 A1 (Leonard) was a long period comet that was discovered by G. J. Leonard at the Mount Lemmon Observatory on 3 January 2021 when the comet was 5 AU (750 million km) from the Sun. It had a retrograde orbit. The nucleus was about 1 km (0.6 mi) across. It came within 4 million km (2.5 million mi) of Venus, the closest-known cometary approach to Venus.
C/1989 W1 (Aarseth–Brewington) is a non-periodic comet discovered on 16 November 1989 independently by Knut Aarseth and Howard Brewington. It reached an apparent magnitude of 2.8.