Comet Machholz in February 2005 |
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| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by: | Donald Machholz |
| Discovery date: | 2004 |
| Alternate designations: | Comet Machholz |
| Orbital characteristics A | |
| Epoch: | 2453415.5 (February 14, 2005) |
| Aphelion: | ~1070 AU[1] |
| Perihelion: | 1.205 AU |
| Semi-major axis: | ~537 AU[1] |
| Eccentricity: | 0.9995 |
| Orbital period: | 12,500 yr[1] |
| Inclination: | 38.6° |
| Last perihelion: | January 24, 2005 |
| Next perihelion: | unknown |
Comet Machholz, formally designated C/2004 Q2, is a long-period comet discovered by Donald Machholz on August 27, 2004.
It reached naked eye brightness in January 2005. Unusual for such a relatively bright comet, its perihelion was farther from the Sun than the Earth's orbit.
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Given the orbital eccentricity of this object, different epochs can generate quite different heliocentric unperturbed two-body best-fit solutions to the aphelion distance (maximum distance) of this object. For objects at such high eccentricity, the Suns barycentric coordinates are more stable than heliocentric coordinates. Using JPL Horizons the barycentric orbital elements for epoch 2011-Jan-01 generate a semi-major axis of 537 AU and a period of approximately 12,500 years.[1] This gives it a barycentric orbital period just a little larger than Sedna.