 Comet 238P/Read by the James Webb Space Telescope on September 8, 2022 | |||||||||
| Discovery | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovered by | Michael T. Read (Spacewatch) | ||||||||
| Discovery date | 24 October 2005 | ||||||||
| Designations | |||||||||
| Main-belt comet [1] [2] Encke-type comet [3] | |||||||||
| Orbital characteristics [3] | |||||||||
| Epoch 7 January 2006 | |||||||||
| Uncertainty parameter 1 | |||||||||
| Aphelion | 3.9645 AU (Q) | ||||||||
| Perihelion | 2.3647 AU (q) | ||||||||
| 3.1646 AU (a) | |||||||||
| Eccentricity | 0.25277 | ||||||||
| 5.63 yr | |||||||||
| 28.566° (M) | |||||||||
| Inclination | 1.2662° | ||||||||
| 51.647° | |||||||||
| 2028-Jan-24 [4] 2022-Jun-05 (previous) [5] | |||||||||
| 325.76° | |||||||||
| TJupiter | 3.153 | ||||||||
| Physical characteristics | |||||||||
| 0.6 km (approx.) [6] | |||||||||
Mean density | 1.0 g/cm3(assumed) [6] | ||||||||
| Albedo | 0.04 (assumed) [6] | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| 19.62 to 23.41 | |||||||||
| 20.1±0.4R [6] | |||||||||
238P/Read (P/2005 U1) is a main-belt comet [1] [2] discovered on 24 October 2005 by astronomer Michael T. Read using the Spacewatch 36-inch telescope on Kitt Peak National Observatory. It has an orbit within the asteroid belt and has displayed the coma of a traditional comet. It fits the definition of an Encke-type comet with (TJupiter > 3; a < aJupiter). [3]
