C / 2006 A1 (Pojmanski)
| C / 2006 A1 (Pojmanski) [i] | |
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| C / 2006 A1 on February 27, 2006 | |
| Properties of the orbit ( animation ) | |
| Orbit type | long-period |
| Numerical eccentricity | 0.99977 |
| Perihelion | 0.555 AU |
| Aphelion | 4730 AE |
| Major semi-axis | 2365 AE |
| Sidereal period | ~ 115,000 a |
| Inclination of the orbit plane | 92.7 ° |
| Perihelion | February 22, 2006 |
| Orbital velocity in the perihelion | 56.5 km / s |
| history | |
| Explorer | Grzegorz Pojmański |
| Date of discovery | January 2, 2006 |
| Source: Unless otherwise stated, the data comes from JPL Small-Body Database Browser . Please also note the note on comet articles . | |
C / 2006 A1 (Pojmanski) is a comet that could be observed with the naked eye in 2006 .
Discovery and observation
On January 2, 2006, astronomer G. Pojmański from the Warsaw University Observatory examined a picture taken the day before as part of the All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) with a digital camera with 180 mm f / 2.8 lens at Las -Campanas Observatory . He then discovered a diffuse, comet-like object. Further recordings were made on January 4th and 5th, while the object could also be subsequently detected on a picture taken on December 29, 2005. Since that day the brightness of the comet had risen from around 13 to around 12. The discovery was confirmed by another observer in Uruguay on January 5th .
About seven hours after Pojmański's announcement of his discovery, there was another independent discovery of the comet by the Lithuanian astronomer Kazimieras Černis , who based the object on three UV images of the SWAN experiment on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) from 25 December 2005 to January 1, 2006.
The comet, which at the time of its discovery was 1.2 AU from the Sun and 1.5 AU from Earth , could initially only be observed from the southern hemisphere . Initial prognoses indicated a maximum brightness of 6.5 mag, but the comet was already significantly brighter than expected in early February. At the end of February it first appeared at dawn in the northern hemisphere at a brightness of around 5 mag, which was also its maximum brightness. It migrated quickly to the north, the brightness decreased again, at the end of March it was still about 8 mag and sank to about 10 mag by the end of April. In the middle of May the brightness dropped suddenly by 3 mag, and the comet could still be observed telescopically until December 2006.
Orbit
For the comet, a long-period elliptical orbit could be determined from 603 observation data over a period of 310 days , which is inclined by around 93 ° to the ecliptic . The comet's orbit is thus almost perpendicular to the orbits of the planets ; it runs in the opposite direction ( retrograde ) to them. At the point closest to the Sun ( perihelion ), which the comet passed on February 22, 2006, it was still about 83.1 million km away from the Sun and was thus in the area between the orbits of Mercury and Venus . On March 2, the comet passed Venus at a distance of about 45.8 million km and the closest approach to Earth was on March 4, except for a distance of about 115.3 million km (0.77 AE). On March 11, there was an approach to Mercury up to about 79.0 million km.
According to the orbital elements afflicted with a certain uncertainty, as they are specified in the JPL Small-Body Database and which do not take into account non-gravitational forces on the comet, its orbit still had an eccentricity of around 0.99956 long before it passed the inner solar system and a semi-major axis of about 1270 AU, so that its orbital period was about 45,000 years. Due to the gravitational pull of the planets, especially due to the relatively close passages of Saturn on February 27, 2001 in about 9 ½ AU distance, on Jupiter on February 27, 2006 in a little over 4 ¾ AU distance and again on Saturn on March 9, 2006 these path parameters were only changed minimally at a distance of about 9 AU, so that approximately the same values also apply to its future path.
See also
Web links
- C / 2006 A1 (Pojmanski) Seiichi Yoshida's Home Page (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ GW Kronk: C / 2006 A1 (Pojmanski). In: Gary W. Kronk's Cometography. Accessed August 10, 2020 (English).
- ^ J. Rao: See it Now: New Comet Brightens Rapidly. In: Space.com. Future US, Inc., February 24, 2006, accessed August 10, 2020 .
- ↑ C / 2006 A1 (Pojmanski) in the Small-Body Database of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (English).
- ↑ A. Vitagliano: SOLEX 12.1. Retrieved July 9, 2020 .