| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by: | Heinrich Louis d'Arrest |
| Discovery date: | June 28, 1851 |
| Alternate designations: | 1678 R1, 1851 M1, 1857 X1, 1923b, 1950a, 1963f, 1970d, 1976e, 1982e, 1987k |
| Orbital characteristics A | |
| Epoch: | February 15, 2002 |
| Aphelion: | 5.639 AU |
| Perihelion: | 1.353 AU |
| Semi-major axis: | 3.496 AU |
| Eccentricity: | 0.613 |
| Orbital period: | 6.51 a |
| Inclination: | 19.5° |
| Last perihelion: | August 14, 2008 |
| Next perihelion: | March 2, 2015 |
6P/d'Arrest (also known as d'Arrest's Comet or Comet d'Arrest) is a periodic comet in our Solar System, orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. It passed 53 Gm from the Earth, about a third of the Earth-Sun distance, on August 9, 2008.
In 1991, Andrea Carusi and Giovanni B. Valsecchi (Istituto Astrofisica Spaziale, Rome), and Ľubor Kresák and Margita Kresáková (Slovak Astronomical Institute, Bratislava) independently suggested this comet was the same as a comet observed by Philippe de La Hire in 1678.
The comet nucleus is estimated at about 3.2 km in diameter.[1]
| Periodic comets (by number) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous 5D/Brorsen |
6P/d'Arrest | Next 7P/Pons-Winnecke |