| 65P/Gunn | |
| Discoverer: | James E. Gunn |
| Discovery Date: | October 17, 1970 |
| Designations: | 1969 II; 1976 III; 1982 X; 1989 XI; |
| Epoch: | March 6, 2006 |
| Semimajor: | 3.59 AU |
| Perihelion: | 2.444 AU |
| Aphelion: | 4.737 AU |
| Eccentricity: | 0.3194 |
| Period: | 6.803 a |
| Inclination: | 10.3867° |
| Last P: | October 16, 2017 March 2, 2010 May 11, 2003 |
| Next P: | 2025-Jun-16 |
65P/Gunn is a periodic comet in the Solar System which has a current orbital period of 6.79 years. 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.[1]
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. In 1972 Elizabeth Roemer managed to observe 65P/Gunn close to aphelion.[2]
On 4 February 1970 the comet passed 0.015abbr=onNaNabbr=on from Ceres.
In 1980 was noticed that a 19th magnitude comet found in plates obtained by Palomar Observatory on 8 August 1954[3] was a previous apparition of 65/Gunn. The link was confirmed by Brian G. Marsden.[4]