P/2010 B2 (WISE)

P/2010 B2 (WISE)
Discovery
Discovered by: WISE
Discovery date: January 22, 2010
Alternate designations: P/2010 B2
Orbital characteristics A
Epoch: January 4, 2010
Perihelion: 1.6069719 AU
Semi-major axis: 2.9932709 AU
Eccentricity: 0.4631385
Orbital period: 5.18 a
Inclination: 8.88973°

P/2010 B2 is a periodic comet in our solar system. It is the first comet discovered by the space observatory WISE and was first observed on January 22, 2010[1] and has since been followed by ground observatories, among them the Mauna Kea Observatory.[2]

The comet has an orbital period of 4.7 years, an aphelion of 4 astronomical units and a perihelion of 1.6 astronomical units.[3]

References

  1. ^ "MPEC 2010-C23 : COMET P/2010 B2 (WISE)". February 8, 2010. http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/mpec/K10/K10C23.html. Retrieved February 12, 2010. 
  2. ^ Lakdawalla, Emily (February 8, 2010). "WISE has found its first comet, P/2010 B2 (WISE)". http://planetary.org/blog/article/00002337/. Retrieved February 11, 2010. 
  3. ^ "Comet Discovered by New NASA Observatory". February 11, 2010. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/wise-comet-100211.html. Retrieved February 11, 2010.