C/1980 E1 (Bowell)

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C/1980 E1 (Bowell)
C1980 E1-orbit.png
Hyperbolic path with annual motion
Discovery
Discovered by Edward L. G. Bowell
Discovery date11 February 1980
Orbital characteristics [1] [2]
Epoch 3 January 1982 (JD 2444972.5)
Observation arc 6.88 years
Number of
observations		187
Aphelion ~75,000 AU (inbound) [1]
Perihelion 3.3639  AU
Eccentricity 1.057(hyperbolic trajectory)
1.053 (epoch 1984+)
Orbital period ~7.1 million years (epoch 1950)
Ejection (epoch 1977+)
Inclination 1.6617°
114.558°
Argument of
periapsis 		135.083°
Last perihelion12 March 1982
Physical characteristics
Dimensions > 1 km
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		5.8

C/1980 E1 is a non-periodic comet discovered by Edward L. G. Bowell on 11 February 1980 and which came closest to the Sun (perihelion) in March 1982. It is leaving the Solar System on a hyperbolic trajectory due to a close approach to Jupiter. In the 43 years since its discovery only 3 objects with higher eccentricities have been identified, 1I/ʻOumuamua (1.2), 2I/Borisov (3.35), and 3I/ATLAS (6.15). [3] [4]

Contents

Overview

Before entering the inner Solar System for a 1982 perihelion passage, C/1980 E1 had a barycentric (epoch 1950-Jan-01) orbit with an aphelion of 75,000  AU (1.2  ly ), and a period of approximately 7.1 million years. [1]

As the comet was approaching on 9 December 1980, it passed within 0.228  AU of Jupiter, [2] which accelerated the comet briefly giving an (epoch 1981-Jan-09) eccentricity of 1.066. [1] [5] [6] The comet came to perihelion on 12 March 1982, [2] when it had a velocity of 23.3 km/s (52,000 mph) with respect to the Sun. Since the epoch of 1977-Mar-04, C/1980 E1 has had a barycentric eccentricity greater than 1, [1] keeping it on a hyperbolic trajectory that will eject it from the Solar System. Objects in hyperbolic orbits have a negative semimajor axis, giving them a positive orbital energy. After leaving the Solar System, C/1980 E1 will have an interstellar velocity () of 3.77 km/s. [a] [7] The Minor Planet Center does not directly list a semimajor axis for this comet. [8] On 24 January 2022, C/2024 L5 (ATLAS) had a similar episode with Saturn, resulting in its ejection from the Solar System. [9]

The escape velocity from the Sun at Neptune's orbit is 7.7 km/s. By June 1995, the comet was passing Neptune's orbit at 30.1 AU from the Sun continuing its ejection trajectory at 8.6 km/s. [10] Since February 2008, the comet has been more than 50 AU from the Sun. [11]

C/1980 E1 distance and velocity compared to the Sun with a 300 year stepsize [12]
DateSun distance
(AU)		Velocity
wrt Sun
(km/s)		Uncertainty
region
(3-sigma)
1682-03-12248.8 AU (37.22 billion km; 23.13 billion mi)2.68± 7 million km
Perihelion3.364 AU (503.2 million km; 312.7 million mi)23.3± 1589 km
2282-03-12337.2 AU (50.44 billion km; 31.34 billion mi)4.43± 5 million km

Emission of OH (hydroxide) was observed pre-perihelion while the comet was nearly 5 AU from the Sun. [13] CN (cyanide) was not detected until the comet was near perihelion. The comet nucleus was estimated to have a radius of several kilometers. The surface crust was probably a few meters thick.[ citation needed ]

Eccentricity vs time C1980 E1-eccentricity.png
Eccentricity vs time
Animation of C/1980 E1's orbit .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} C/1980 E1 (Bowell) * Sun * * Earth * Mars * Jupiter * Saturn Animation of C/1980 E1 orbit.gif
Animation of C/1980 E1's orbit
  C/1980 E1 (Bowell) ·  Sun · ·  Earth ·  Mars ·  Jupiter ·  Saturn

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ v = 42.1219 √1/r − 0.5/a, where r is the distance from the Sun, and a is the major semi-axis. At epoch 2500, C/1980 E1 will have a barycentric semi-major axis of −62.44.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Horizons output. "Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for Comet C/1980 E1 (Bowell)". Solution using the Solar System Barycenter. Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0 (To be outside planetary region, inbound epoch 1950 and outbound epoch 2050)
  2. 1 2 3 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: C/1980 E1 (Bowell)" (last observation: 1986-12-30). Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  3. ↑ de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl (1 November 2017). "Pole, Pericenter, and Nodes of the Interstellar Minor Body A/2017 U1". Research Notes of the AAS . 1 (1): 9 (2 pages). arXiv: 1711.00445 . Bibcode:2017RNAAS...1....5D. doi: 10.3847/2515-5172/aa96b4 . S2CID   119537175.
  4. ↑ de León, Julia; Licandro, Javier; Serra-Ricart, Miquel; Cabrera-Lavers, Antonio; Font Serra, Joan; Scarpa, Riccardo; de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl (19 September 2019). "Interstellar Visitors: A Physical Characterization of Comet C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) with OSIRIS at the 10.4 m GTC". Research Notes of the AAS . 3 (9): 131. Bibcode:2019RNAAS...3..131D. doi: 10.3847/2515-5172/ab449c . ISSN   2515-5172. S2CID   204193392.
  5. ↑ Buffoni, L.; Scardia, M.; Manara, A. (1 May 1982). "The orbital evolution of comet Bowell (1980b)". The Moon and the Planets . 26 (3): 311–315. Bibcode:1982M&P....26..311B. doi: 10.1007/BF00928013 .
  6. ↑ Branham, R. L., Jr. (1 April 2013). "New Orbits for Comets C/1960 M1 (Humason), C/1980 E1 (Bowell), and Musings on Extrasolar Comets". Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica . 49 (1): 111–116. Bibcode:2013RMxAA..49..111B.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl; de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; Aarseth, Sverre J. (24 October 2024). "Ejected from home: C/1980 E1 (Bowell) and C/2024 L5 (ATLAS)". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 690 (1): A395 (8 pages). arXiv: 2410.01975 . Bibcode:2024arXiv241001975D. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202451920 .
  8. ↑ "C/1980 E1 (Bowell) Orbit at the Minor Planet Center" . Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  9. ↑ de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl (23 July 2024). "Comet A117uUD Goes Interstellar after Encountering Saturn in 2022". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 8 (7): 184 (3 pages). Bibcode:2024RNAAS...8..184D. doi: 10.3847/2515-5172/ad65fc .
  10. ↑ "Horizons Batch: Passing Neptune's orbit at 30.1 AU from the Sun" (Solar escape velocity at 30.1 AU is about 7.67 km/s). JPL Horizons.
  11. ↑ Yeomans, Donald K.; Chamberlin, Alan B. "Horizons Ephemeris". JPL Solar System Dynamics . Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  12. ↑ "Horizons Batch for Distance and Velocity using a 300 year stepsize". JPL Horizons . Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  13. ↑ Ahearn, Michael F.; Schleicher, D. G.; Millis, R. L.; Feldman, P. D.; Thompson, D. T. (1984). "Comet Bowell 1980b". Astronomical Journal. 89: 579–591. Bibcode:1984AJ.....89..579A. doi: 10.1086/113552 .

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