289P/Blanpain

Last updated
289P/Blanpain
289P 2020-01-11 NEOWISE image 3-color.png
Discovery
Discovered by Jean-Jacques Blanpain (Marseille, France)
Discovery date1819 November 28/November 2003
Designations
D/1819 W1;
2003 WY25
Orbital characteristics
Epoch 1819 November 22
Aphelion 5.094 AU
Perihelion 0.891 AU
Semi-major axis 2.993 AU
Eccentricity 0.702
Orbital period 5.18 yr
Inclination 9.23°
Last perihelion2019-Dec-20 [1]
2014-08-28
2009-04-30
Next perihelion2025-04-14 [1]
Earth MOID 0.015 AU (2,200,000 km)

289P/Blanpain, formerly D/1819 W1 (Blanpain) is a short-period comet with an orbital period of 5.2 years. It was discovered by Jean-Jacques Blanpain on November 28, 1819 but was considered lost until it was recovered in 2013. It was last observed in 2020.

Contents

Observational history

The comet was discovered by Jean-Jacques Blanpain on November 28, 1819. Blanpain described the comet as having a "very small and confused nucleus". Another independent discovery was made on December 5 of that year by J. L. Pons. Following this the comet was lost, and was given the designation 'D' (Disappeared or Dead).

However, in 2003, the orbital elements of newly discovered asteroid 2003 WY25 were calculated by Marco Micheli and others to be a probable match for the lost comet. [2] On 12 December 2003, it approached Earth at a distance of 0.025  AU (3,700,000  km ; 2,300,000  mi ). [3] Further observations of the asteroid in 2005 by David Jewitt using the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope on Mauna Kea, appeared to reveal a faint coma, which supports the theory that 2003 WY25 is the lost comet, or a part of it. [4] The comet was officially established as periodic comet 289P in July 2013, after being rediscovered by the Pan-STARRS survey during an outburst event. [5]

The comet underwent a major outburst in July 2013, when it brightened by 9 magnitudes, one of the largest observed comet outbursts. [6] The comet was first spotted in images obtained by Pan-STARRS on 4 July 2013, having a reported magnitude of about 20, and brightened to a magnitude of about 17.5 and featured a coma about 30 arcseconds across and a broad tail. [5] [7] It is estimated that the comet lost about 108 kg of dust, which corresponds to about 1% of the comet's mass. The comet then was located 3.9 AU from the Sun. [6]

289P was better viewed near and after the 2019-Dec-20 perihelion passage. On 11 January 2020 the comet approached Earth at a distance of 0.091  AU (13,600,000  km ; 8,500,000  mi ). The next close approach will take place on 6 November 2035, at a distance of 0.082  AU (12,300,000  km ; 7,600,000  mi ). [3]

Scientific results

The observations of the comet by the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope indicate the nucleus of the comet is quite small. Assuming an albedo of 0.04, which is the mean value for short period comets, its radius is about 160 metres (520 ft), although the presence of coma and unknown phase function means that there is quite some uncertainty. However at that time it was the smallest known cometary nucleus. [4] Observations of the comet in 2019–20 by NEOWISE indicate a rotational period of 8.8536 ± 0.3860 hours or 15.6 hours, with the former being more likely. [8]

The ejected dust masses are 4100 ± 200 kg inbound and 1700 ± 200 kg outbound, respectively, based on the observations by NEOWISE. The dust production rates are Qdust = 0.01–0.02 kg per second, corresponding to a dust-to-gas production ratio of 2 ≤ fdg ≤ 6. The resulting fractional active area, fA = 3.8 ± 1.9 × 10−5, is the smallest yet reported. [8] The absence of 4.6 μm (W2) excess suggests that 289P/Blanpain contains negligible amounts of CO2 and CO. The perihelion-normalized nongravitational acceleration, a'NG = 3.1 × 10−6, is approximately an order of magnitude smaller than the trend observed for well-studied comets, consistent with weak outgassing. [8]

Exploration proposals

289P/Blanpain has been proposed to be the primary target of the Japanese Next Generation small-body Sample Return (NGSR) mission, designed to be launched in 2030s. The goal of the mission is to return a sample from a comet to Earth, the first time after Stardust mission. The comet was choosen due to its favorable orbital characteristics and small size. [9] The comet has also been peaked as a back-up target for the ESA's Comet Interceptor mission. [10]

Source of Phoenicids

Comet D/1819 W1 currently has an Earth-MOID of 0.015  AU (2,200,000  km ; 1,400,000  mi ). [3] The comet has been proposed as the probable source of the Phoenicid meteor stream, since the first observation of a Phoenicids meteor storm in 1956. Analysis of the orbits of asteroid 2003 WY25 have supported this conjecture, and it is thought likely that the comet was already breaking up at the time of its 1819 return. [11] The 1956 meteor storm was created by trails formed from the late 18th through the early 19th centuries. [12] Elevated Phoenicids activity was also observed on 2 December 2014, when Earth intersected with dust trails created in early 20th century, indicating that the comet was then active enough to create meteors but not as active as in early 19th century. [13]

Related Research Articles

In astronomy, absolute magnitude is a measure of the luminosity of a celestial object on an inverse logarithmic astronomical magnitude scale; the more luminous an object, the lower its magnitude number. An object's absolute magnitude is defined to be equal to the apparent magnitude that the object would have if it were viewed from a distance of exactly 10 parsecs, without extinction of its light due to absorption by interstellar matter and cosmic dust. By hypothetically placing all objects at a standard reference distance from the observer, their luminosities can be directly compared among each other on a magnitude scale. For Solar System bodies that shine in reflected light, a different definition of absolute magnitude (H) is used, based on a standard reference distance of one astronomical unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meteor shower</span> Celestial event caused by streams of meteoroids entering Earths atmosphere

A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller than a grain of sand, so almost all of them disintegrate and never hit the Earth's surface. Very intense or unusual meteor showers are known as meteor outbursts and meteor storms, which produce at least 1,000 meteors an hour, most notably from the Leonids. The Meteor Data Centre lists over 900 suspected meteor showers of which about 100 are well established. Several organizations point to viewing opportunities on the Internet. NASA maintains a daily map of active meteor showers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comet Encke</span> Periodic comet with 3-year orbit

Comet Encke, or Encke's Comet, is a periodic comet that completes an orbit of the Sun once every 3.3 years. Encke was first recorded by Pierre Méchain on 17 January 1786, but it was not recognized as a periodic comet until 1819 when its orbit was computed by Johann Franz Encke. Like Halley's Comet, it is unusual in its being named after the calculator of its orbit rather than its discoverer. Like most comets, it has a very low albedo, reflecting only 4.6% of the light its nucleus receives, although comets generate a large coma and tail that can make them much more visible during their perihelion. The diameter of the nucleus of Encke's Comet is 4.8 km.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">46P/Wirtanen</span> Periodic comet with 5 year orbit

46P/Wirtanen is a small short-period comet with a current orbital period of 5.4 years. It was the original target for close investigation by the Rosetta spacecraft, planned by the European Space Agency, but an inability to meet the launch window caused Rosetta to be sent to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko instead. It belongs to the Jupiter family of comets, all of which have aphelia between 5 and 6 AU. Its diameter is estimated at 1.4 kilometres (0.9 mi). In December 2019, astronomers reported capturing an outburst of the comet in substantial detail by the TESS space telescope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">12P/Pons–Brooks</span> Periodic comet with 71-year orbit

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. However it has been confirmed 12P/Pons–Brooks was observed before the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">55P/Tempel–Tuttle</span> Periodic comet

55P/Tempel–Tuttle is a retrograde periodic comet with an orbital period of 33 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with a period of between 20 and 200 years. It was independently discovered by Wilhelm Tempel on 19 December 1865, and by Horace Parnell Tuttle on 6 January 1866. It is the parent body of the Leonid meteor shower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3200 Phaethon</span> Asteroid responsible for the Geminids meteor shower

3200 Phaethon, provisionally designated 1983 TB, is an active Apollo asteroid with an orbit that brings it closer to the Sun than any other named asteroid. For this reason, it was named after the Greek Hero, Phaëthon, son of the sun god Helios. It is 5.8 km (3.6 mi) in diameter and is the parent body of the Geminids meteor shower of mid-December. With an observation arc of 35+ years, it has a very well determined orbit. The 2017 Earth approach distance of about 10 million km was known with an accuracy of ±700 m.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoenicids</span>

The Phoenicids are a minor meteor shower, first noticed by observers in New Zealand, Australia, the Indian Ocean, and South Africa during an outburst of approximately 100 meteors an hour that occurred during December 1956. Like other meteor showers, the Phoenicids get their name from the location of their radiant, which is in the constellation Phoenix. They are active from 29 November to 9 December, with a peak occurring around 5/6 December each year, and are best seen from the Southern Hemisphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">13P/Olbers</span> Periodic comet with 70 year orbit

13P/Olbers is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 69 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with a period between 20 and 200 years. The comet last passed perihelion 30 June 2024 and it was previously seen in 1956. The next perihelion is in 2094.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková</span> Periodic comet with 5 year orbit

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.

C/2007 W1 (Boattini) is a non-periodic comet discovered on 20 November 2007, by Andrea Boattini at the Mt. Lemmon Survey. At the peak the comet had an apparent magnitude around 5.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Southern Comet of 1887</span> Kreutz sungrazer comet

The Great Southern Comet of 1887, or C/1887 B1 using its International Astronomical Union (IAU) designation, was a bright comet seen from the Southern Hemisphere during January 1887. Later calculations indicated it to be part of the Kreutz Sungrazing group. It came to perihelion on 11 January 1877 at a distance of 0.00483 AU (723 thousand km) with a velocity of 606.1 km/s. Since the Sun has a radius of 696000 km, the comet passed about 27000 km from the surface of the Sun.

255P/Levy, formerly P/2006 T1 and P/2011 Y1, is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 5.25 years. It last came to perihelion on 14 January 2012. During the 2006 passage the comet achieved an apparent magnitude of ~9.5. Levy (PK06T010) was believed to have been recovered on 3 June 2011 at magnitude 19.8, but other observatories were unable to confirm a recovery. It was most likely a false positive because of large residuals. Levy was recovered on 17 December 2011 at magnitude 19.8, and given the second designation 2011 Y1. It was then numbered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comet ISON</span> Oort cloud comet

Comet ISON, formally known as C/2012 S1, was a sungrazing comet from the Oort cloud which was discovered on 21 September 2012 by Vitaly Nevsky and Artyom Novichonok.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">252P/LINEAR</span> Periodic comet and near-earth object

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">460P/PanSTARRS</span> Near-Earth object and periodic comet of the Jupiter family

460P/PanSTARRS (also known with the provisional designation P/2016 BA14) is a near-Earth object and periodic comet of the Jupiter family, with an orbital period of 5.25 years. In March 2016 it passed at distance of 2.2 million miles (3.5 million km, or 9 lunar distances) from Earth. It was the closest approach by a comet since 1770 and 3rd closest recorded comet to Earth. The close flyby enabled the size of the nucleus to be calculated at about 1 km (0.62 mi) in diameter, which was much bigger than expected. The comet is very dark, reflecting about 2-3 percent of the visible light, about the same as a charcoal briquette. It has a very similar orbit as numbered comet 252P/LINEAR, and may be related to it (e.g. split off of).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">141P/Machholz</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C/2021 A1 (Leonard)</span> Hyperbolic comet

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 1.2 km (0.75 mi) across. It came within 4 million km (2.5 million mi) of Venus, the closest-known cometary approach to Venus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameras for All-Sky Meteor Surveillance</span> Meteor shower observatory

CAMS is a NASA-sponsored international project that tracks and triangulates meteors during night-time video surveillance in order to map and monitor meteor showers. Data processing is housed at the Carl Sagan Center of the SETI Institute in California, USA. Goal of CAMS is to validate the International Astronomical Union's Working List of Meteor Showers, discover new meteor showers, and predict future meteor showers.

<span class="nowrap">C/2014 UN<sub>271</sub></span> (Bernardinelli–Bernstein) Largest known Oort cloud comet

C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli–Bernstein), simply known as C/2014 UN271 or Comet Bernardinelli–Bernstein (nicknamed BB), is a large Oort cloud comet discovered by astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein in archival images from the Dark Energy Survey. When first imaged in October 2014, the object was 29 AU (4.3 billion km; 2.7 billion mi) from the Sun, almost as far as Neptune's orbit and the greatest distance at which a comet has been discovered. With a nucleus diameter of at least 120 km (75 mi), it is the largest Oort cloud comet known. It is approaching the Sun and will reach its perihelion of 10.9 AU (just outside of Saturn's orbit) in January 2031. It will not be visible to the naked eye because it will not enter the inner Solar System.

References

  1. 1 2 "289P/Blanpain Orbit". Minor Planet Center . Retrieved 2017-04-09.
  2. ↑ M. Micheli, Astronomia UAI, 1:47, 2005
  3. 1 2 3 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 289P/Blanpain" (last observation: 2020-03-15). Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  4. 1 2 Jewitt, David (April 2006). "Comet D/1819 W1 (Blanpain): Not Dead Yet". The Astronomical Journal. 131 (4): 2327–2331. doi:10.1086/500390.
  5. 1 2 Williams, G. V. ; Sato, H. ; Marsden, B. G. ; Nakano, S., CBET 3574: COMET P/1819 W1 = 2003 WY_25 (BLANPAIN) CBET, 3574, 2013
  6. 1 2 Ye 叶, Quanzhi 泉志; Clark, David L. (20 June 2019). "Rising from Ashes or Dying Flash? The Mega Outburst of Small Comet 289P/Blanpain in 2013". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 878 (2): L34. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab26bc .
  7. ↑ "MPEC 2013-N20 : 2003 WY25". minorplanetcenter.net. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  8. 1 2 3 Kasuga, Toshihiro (3 February 2025). "Comet 289P/Blanpain: Near-perihelion Activity and the Phoenicids". The Astronomical Journal. 169 (2): 54. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ad95fd .
  9. ↑ Wakita, S.; Kurokawa, H.; Shimaki, Y.; Sakatani, N.; Fukai, R.; Kebukawa, Y.; Aoki, J.; Tatsumi, E.; Ushikubo, T.; Kumamoto, A.; Miyamoto, H.; Kawamura, T.; Tanaka, S.; Tsuji, T.; Urakawa, S.; Ohsawa, R.; Tsuda, Y.; Mori, O.; Maru, Y.; Saiki, T. (1 August 2023). The Next Generation Small-Body Sample Return: A Japanese Mission Plan to a Comet (PDF). Asteroids, Comets, Meteors Conference, held 18-23 June, 2023. Vol. 2851. Flagstaff, Arizona/Virtual. p. 2029.
  10. ↑ Jones, Geraint H.; Snodgrass, Colin; Tubiana, Cecilia; et al. (February 2024). "The Comet Interceptor Mission". Space Science Reviews. 220 (1). doi:10.1007/s11214-023-01035-0. PMID   38282745.
  11. ↑ Jenniskens, P.; Lyytinen, E. (September 2005). "Meteor Showers from the Debris of Broken Comets: D/1819 W 1 (Blanpain), 2003 WY25, and the Phoenicids". The Astronomical Journal. 130 (3): 1286–1290. doi:10.1086/432469.
  12. ↑ Watanabe, Jun-ichi; Sato, Mikiya; Kasuga, Toshihiro (25 October 2005). "Phoenicids in 1956 Revisited". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 57 (5): L45 –L49. doi:10.1093/pasj/57.5.L45.
  13. ↑ Fujiwara, Yasunori; Nakamura, Takuji; Uehara, Satoshi; Sagayama, Toru; Toda, Hiroyuki (1 August 2017). "Optical observations of the Phoenicid meteor shower in 2014 and activity of comet 289P/Blanpain in the early 20th century". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 69 (4). doi:10.1093/pasj/psx035.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.