Blob
2007-Apr-03, 09:27 PM
Comet Prospects for 2007
2007 is a poor year for returning comets and whilst it sees the possible return of 30 periodic comets only a few of these are likely to come within range of visual observation with moderate apertures. 8P/Tuttle may reach binocular brightness at the end of the year, though strictly it belongs with the comets of 2008. The highlight may be comet 2006 P1 (McNaught), although it has a faint absolute magnitude and may not survive perihelion.) 96P/Machholz should reach 2nd magnitude as it passes through the satellite coronagraph field at perihelion in early April, however it will be 9th magnitude by the time its elongation increases sufficiently for ground based observation in late April. UK observers may pick it up in the morning sky, but it will be a fading telescopic object. The orbit is very unusual, with the smallest perihelion distance of any proven short period comet (0.13 AU), which is decreasing further with time, a high eccentricity (0.96) and a high inclination (60°).
Read more (http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/preds07.pdf) (23KB, PDF)
Orbital Elements
The following orbital elements are taken from MPC 51822:
Epoch 2007 Apr. 10.0 TT = JDT 2454200.5
T 2007 Apr. 4.6194 TT MPC
q 0.124618 (2000.0) P Q
n 0.1881482 Peri. 14.6181 -0.2027322 -0.4629182
a 3.016264 Node 94.5507 +0.7888859 -0.5992693
e 0.958684 Incl. 59.9553 +0.5801368 +0.6531333
P 5.24
From 133 observations 1986-2002, mean residual 0".8. Nongravitational
parameters A1 = +0.01, A2 = -0.0002.
Read more (http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0096P/2007.html)
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3121/image2zoomsm4.jpg
2002 Hotshots (http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2002_01_08/)
Astronomy magazine podcast (http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=5378): Don Machholz and Comet 96P
Orbital elements and diagram (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?sstr=96P&group=com)
http://www.bautforum.com/showthread.php?t=29391&highlight=Machholz
Comet 96P/Machholz 1 is observable as a morning sky object in the Northern Hemisphere.
By the end of the month it will become observable in the Southern Hemisphere.
Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase m1 m2
2007 03 31 01 02.06 -04 16.3 1.138 0.239 10.4 49.3 5.8 17.0
2007 04 05 01 14.90 +10 54.5 1.001 0.126 7.2 86.2 2.2 16.5
2007 04 10 00 37.30 +19 20.8 0.887 0.264 14.5 108.4 5.8 18.9
2007 04 15 00 02.56 +21 32.0 0.833 0.422 24.4 101.0 8.1 19.4
2007 04 20 23 34.20 +22 08.9 0.795 0.564 34.1 93.7 9.5 19.6
2007 04 25 23 09.36 +22 10.0 0.763 0.693 43.5 87.3 10.5 19.7
2007 04 30 22 46.00 +21 52.8 0.731 0.811 52.8 81.4 11.2 19.7
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-c3-1024.html
2007 is a poor year for returning comets and whilst it sees the possible return of 30 periodic comets only a few of these are likely to come within range of visual observation with moderate apertures. 8P/Tuttle may reach binocular brightness at the end of the year, though strictly it belongs with the comets of 2008. The highlight may be comet 2006 P1 (McNaught), although it has a faint absolute magnitude and may not survive perihelion.) 96P/Machholz should reach 2nd magnitude as it passes through the satellite coronagraph field at perihelion in early April, however it will be 9th magnitude by the time its elongation increases sufficiently for ground based observation in late April. UK observers may pick it up in the morning sky, but it will be a fading telescopic object. The orbit is very unusual, with the smallest perihelion distance of any proven short period comet (0.13 AU), which is decreasing further with time, a high eccentricity (0.96) and a high inclination (60°).
Read more (http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/preds07.pdf) (23KB, PDF)
Orbital Elements
The following orbital elements are taken from MPC 51822:
Epoch 2007 Apr. 10.0 TT = JDT 2454200.5
T 2007 Apr. 4.6194 TT MPC
q 0.124618 (2000.0) P Q
n 0.1881482 Peri. 14.6181 -0.2027322 -0.4629182
a 3.016264 Node 94.5507 +0.7888859 -0.5992693
e 0.958684 Incl. 59.9553 +0.5801368 +0.6531333
P 5.24
From 133 observations 1986-2002, mean residual 0".8. Nongravitational
parameters A1 = +0.01, A2 = -0.0002.
Read more (http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0096P/2007.html)
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3121/image2zoomsm4.jpg
2002 Hotshots (http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2002_01_08/)
Astronomy magazine podcast (http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=5378): Don Machholz and Comet 96P
Orbital elements and diagram (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?sstr=96P&group=com)
http://www.bautforum.com/showthread.php?t=29391&highlight=Machholz
Comet 96P/Machholz 1 is observable as a morning sky object in the Northern Hemisphere.
By the end of the month it will become observable in the Southern Hemisphere.
Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase m1 m2
2007 03 31 01 02.06 -04 16.3 1.138 0.239 10.4 49.3 5.8 17.0
2007 04 05 01 14.90 +10 54.5 1.001 0.126 7.2 86.2 2.2 16.5
2007 04 10 00 37.30 +19 20.8 0.887 0.264 14.5 108.4 5.8 18.9
2007 04 15 00 02.56 +21 32.0 0.833 0.422 24.4 101.0 8.1 19.4
2007 04 20 23 34.20 +22 08.9 0.795 0.564 34.1 93.7 9.5 19.6
2007 04 25 23 09.36 +22 10.0 0.763 0.693 43.5 87.3 10.5 19.7
2007 04 30 22 46.00 +21 52.8 0.731 0.811 52.8 81.4 11.2 19.7
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-c3-1024.html