109P/Swift-Tuttle

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**109P/Swift-Tuttle**
Discovery
Discovered by:	Lewis Swift Horace Parnell Tuttle
Discovery date:	July 16, 1862
Alternate designations:	1737 N1; 1737 II; 1862 O1; 1862 III; 1992 S2; 1992 XXVIII
Orbital characteristics ^A
Epoch:	October 10, 1995 (JD 2450000.5)
Aphelion distance:	51.225 AU
Perihelion distance:	0.9595 AU
Semi-major axis:	26.092 AU
Eccentricity:	0.9632
Orbital period:	133.28 a
Inclination:	113.45°
Last perihelion:	December 11, 1992
Next perihelion (predicted):	July 12, 2126

Comet Swift-Tuttle (formally designated as 109P/Swift-Tuttle) was independently discovered by Lewis Swift on July 16, 1862 and by Horace Parnell Tuttle on July 19, 1862.

The comet made a return appearance in 1992, when it was rediscovered by Japanese astronomer Tsuruhiko Kiuchi.

It is the parent body of the Perseid meteor shower - perhaps the best known shower and also among the most reliable in performance.

According to a New Scientist article, the comet is on an orbit which will almost certainly eventually hit either the Earth or the Moon, though not within this millennium.[1]