69P/Taylor

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69P/Taylor
Discovery
Discovered by Clement J. Taylor
Discovery site Cape Town, South Africa
Discovery date24 November 1915
Designations
D/1915 W1
P/1976 X1
  • 1916 I, 1977 II
  • 1990 XXX
  • 1915e, 1977a, 1990n
Orbital characteristics [1] [2]
Epoch 21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5)
Observation arc 103.28 years
Number of
observations		854
Aphelion 5.489 AU
Perihelion 2.271 AU
Semi-major axis 3.879 AU
Eccentricity 0.41469
Orbital period 7.641 years
Inclination 22.061°
104.81°
Argument of
periapsis 		343.53°
Mean anomaly 314.03°
Last perihelion18 March 2019 [3]
Next perihelion12 November 2026
TJupiter 2.797
Earth MOID 1.306 AU
Jupiter MOID 0.134 AU
Physical characteristics [1]
Mean radius
0.83 km (0.52 mi) [4]
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		17.3

Comet Taylor, also known as 69P/Taylor, is a Jupiter-family comet with a 7.64-year orbit around the Sun. It is the only comet discovered by South African astronomer, Clement Jennings Taylor.

Contents

Observational history

Discovery

The comet was first discovered by Clement J. Taylor from Cape Town, South Africa on 24 November 1915. It was first recognized as a periodic comet after Hamilton Jeffers and Ferdinand J. Neubauer calculated its orbit on February 1916. [5] Around the same time, George van Biesbroeck and Edward Emerson Barnard observed the comet from the Yerkes Observatory, and reported that the comet split into two distinct nuclei, A and B. [6] Barnard initially identified the brighter Fragment A as the main component of Comet Taylor, however he later determined that it was Fragment B the actual main body instead, after orbital calculations of the latter fragment matched that of the pre-breakup nucleus, indicating that Fragment A was undergoing an outburst at the time. [7] The comet was last seen on May 1917.

Loss and recovery

The comet was predicted to return in 1922, [5] but was not recovered. After a close encounter with Jupiter in 1925, of which the comet approached the planet at a distance of 0.24 AU (36 million km), the comet was declared lost. [8]

In 1928, the discovery of 30P/Reinmuth was originally assumed to be Comet Taylor, and again in 1951 the same assumption was made with 49P/Arend-Rigaux.

The 1976 return was predicted by N. A. Belyaev and V. V. Emelʹyanenko and on 25 January 1977, Charles Kowal announced that he recovered the comet on photographic plates taken from the Palomar Observatory on 13 December 1976. [9]

Follow-up observations

The comet was recovered for the returns in 1984 and 1990, and in January 1998 was observed as magnitude 12 when it was 1.0 AU (150 million km) from Earth. [10]

There were 6 recovery images of 69P in October 2018 when the comet had a magnitude of about 20.5. [2] Due to the lack of observations, when the comet is at perihelion on 18 March 2019 and 2.45 AU (367 million km) from Earth, the 3-sigma uncertainty in the comet's Earth distance will be ±6000 km.

Physical characteristics

Between 2006 and 2007, infrared observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope revealed that the nucleus of 69P/Taylor has an effective radius of around 0.83 km (0.52 mi). [4]

References

  1. 1 2 "69P/Taylor – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  2. 1 2 "69P/Taylor Orbit". Minor Planet Center . Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  3. ↑ S. Nakano (4 February 2012). "69P/Taylor (NK 2167)". OAA Computing and Minor Planet Sections. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  4. 1 2 Y. R. Fernández; M. S. P. Kelley; P. L. Lamy; et al. (2013). "Thermal properties, sizes, and size distribution of Jupiter-family cometary nuclei". Icarus. 226 (1): 1138–1170. arXiv: 1307.6191 . Bibcode:2013Icar..226.1138F. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2013.07.021.
  5. 1 2 H. M. Jeffers; F. J. Neubauer (1916). "Note on Comet e 1915 (Taylor)" (PDF). Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 28 (162): 35–36. Bibcode:1916PASP...28...35J. doi: 10.1086/122478 . JSTOR   40691907 .
  6. ↑ E. E. Barnard (1916). "Observations of the double comets 1915e and 1915a". The Astronomical Journal. 29 (689): 138. Bibcode:1916AJ.....29..138B. doi: 10.1086/104141 .
  7. ↑ Z. Sekanina (1977). "Relative Motions of Fragments of the Split Comets I: A New Approach". Icarus. 30 (3): 574–594. Bibcode:1977Icar...30..574S. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(77)90111-7.
  8. ↑ G. van Biesbroeck (October 1928). "Comet Notes". Popular Astronomy. 36: 547. Bibcode:1928PA.....36..547V.
  9. ↑ C. T. Kowal (28 January 1977). B. G. Marsden (ed.). "Periodic Comet Taylor (1916 I = 1977a)". IAU Circular. 3033 (1). Bibcode:1977IAUC.3033....1K.
  10. ↑ G. W. Kronk. "69P/Taylor". Cometography.com. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
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