65P/Gunn

65P/Gunn
Discovery
Discovered by James E. Gunn
Discovery date October 17, 1970
Alternative
designations		 1969 II; 1976 III; 1982 X;
1989 XI;
Orbital characteristics A
Epoch March 6, 2006
Aphelion 4.737 AU
Perihelion 2.444 AU
Semi-major axis 3.59 AU
Eccentricity 0.3194
Orbital period 6.803 a
Inclination 10.3867°
Last perihelion March 2, 2010
May 11, 2003
Next perihelion October 16, 2017[1]

65P/Gunn is a periodic comet in the solar system which has a current orbital period of 6.79 years.

It was discovered on 11 October 1970 by Professor James E. Gunn of Princeton University using the 122-cm Schmidt telescope at the Palomar Observatory. It had a low brightness of magnitude 16 plus which improves to 12 under favourable conditions.

The comet is a short-period comet, orbiting the Sun every 6.79 years inside the main asteroid belt between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.[2]

On 4 February 1970 the comet passed 0.015 AU (2,200,000 km; 1,400,000 mi) from Ceres.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Syuichi Nakano (2010-06-19). "65P/Gunn (NK 1941)". OAA Computing and Minor Planet Sections. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  2. ↑ "WISE Catches Comet 65P/Gunn". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "JPL Close-Approach Data: 65P/Gunn" (2012-1-25 last obs). Retrieved 2012-02-23.
Numbered comets
Previous
64P/Swift–Gehrels 		65P/Gunn Next
66P/du Toit
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.