266P/Christensen

For other comets of the same name, see Comet Christensen.

266P/Christensen

Discovery [1]
Discovered by	Eric J. Christensen
Discovery site	Catalina Sky Survey
Discovery date	27 October 2006
Designations
MPC designation	P/2006 U5, P/2012 P1
Orbital characteristics [2] [3]
Epoch	26 December 2026 (JD 2461400.5)
Observation arc	18.93 years
Number of observations	908
Aphelion	4.733 AU
Perihelion	2.324 AU
Semi-major axis	3.529 AU
Eccentricity	0.34133
Orbital period	6.628 years
Inclination	3.429°
Longitude of ascending node	4.941°
Argument of periapsis	97.951°
Mean anomaly	2.763°
Last perihelion	19 April 2020
Next perihelion	7 December 2026
TJupiter	3.020
Earth MOID	1.351 AU
Jupiter MOID	0.526 AU
Physical characteristics [2]
Mean radius	1.66 km (1.03 mi) [4]
Comet total magnitude (M1)	11.0
Comet nuclear magnitude (M2)	15.9

266P/Christensen is a Encke-type comet with a 6.63-year orbit around the Sun. It will next come to perihelion in December 2026. It has been suggested as the source of the 1977 "Wow! Signal". ^[5]

Physical characteristics

Observations conducted by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) in 2012 revealed that the nucleus of 266P has an upper limit no greater than 1.66 km (1.03 mi) in radius. ^[4]

References

1. E. J. Christensen; G. Hug; G. Sostero; et al. (29 October 2006). D. W. Green (ed.). "Comet C/2006 U5 (Christensen)". IAU Circular. 8768 (1). Bibcode:2006IAUC.8768....1C.
2. "266P/Christensen – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 10 November 2025.
3. "266P/Christensen Orbit". Minor Planet Center . Retrieved 8 June 2017.
4. M. Solontoi; Ž. Ivezíc; M. Juríc (2012). "Ensemble properties of comets in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey". Icarus. 218 (1): 571–584. arXiv: 1202.3999 . Bibcode:2012Icar..218..571S. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.10.008.
5. A. Paris; E. Davies (2015). "Hydrogen Clouds from Comets 266/P Christensen and P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs) are Candidates for the Source of the 1977 "WOW" Signal" (PDF). Washington Academy of Sciences. 101 (4): 25–32. arXiv: 1706.04642 . Bibcode:2017arXiv170604642P. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.1706.04642 . JSTOR   jwashacadscie.101.4.25.

External links

• 266P/Christensen at the JPL Small-Body Database
  • Close approach  · Discovery  · Ephemeris  · Orbit viewer  · Orbit parameters  · Physical parameters
• 266P/Christensen at Seiichi Yoshida's website

Numbered comets
Previous 265P/LINEAR	266P/Christensen	Next 267P/LONEOS