19P/Borrelly

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19P/Borrelly
Discovery
Discovered by: Alphonse Louis Nicolas Borrelly
Discovery date: December 28, 1904
Alternate designations: 1905 II; 1911 VIII; 1918 IV;
1925 VIII; 1932 IV; 1953 IV;
1960 V; 1967 VIII; 1974 VII;
1981 IV; 1987 XXXIII; 1994 XXX
Orbital characteristics A
Epoch: September 8, 2001 (JD 2452160.5)
Aphelion distance: 5.83 AU
Perihelion distance: 1.35 AU
Semi-major axis: 3.59 AU
Eccentricity: 0.624
Orbital period: 6.8 a
Inclination: 30.3°
Last perihelion: September 14, 2001
Next perihelion: July 26, 2008
The orbits of three periodic comets, Halley, Borrelly and Ikeya-Zhang, set against the orbits of the outer planets and Pluto.
The orbits of three periodic comets, Halley, Borrelly and Ikeya-Zhang, set against the orbits of the outer planets and Pluto.

Comet Borrelly (formally designated 19P/Borrelly) is a periodic comet, which was visited by the space craft Deep Space 1.

Contents

[edit] Discovery

The comet was discovered by Alphonse Louis Nicolas Borrelly during a routine search for comets at Marseilles, France on December 28, 1904.

[edit] Deep Space 1 flyby

On September 21, 2001 the spacecraft Deep Space 1, which was launched to test new equipment in space, performed a fly-by of Borrelly. It was steered toward the comet during the extended mission of the craft, and presented an unexpected bonus for the mission scientists. Despite the failure of a system that helped determine its orientation, Deep Space 1 managed to send back to Earth what were, at the time, the best images and other science data from a comet.

[edit] Nucleus parameters

  • Diameter: 8×4 km

[edit] External links


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