C/1911 S3 (Beljawsky) Explained

C/1911 S3 (Beljawsky)
Discoverer:Sergei I. Beljawsky
Discovery Date:29 September 1911
Designations:1911g
1911 IV
Epoch:11 October 1911 (JD 2419320.5)
Observation Arc:140 days
Obs:66
Perihelion:0.3034 AU
Semimajor:–2064.109 AU
Eccentricity:1.000147
Inclination:96.466°
Asc Node:89.897°
Arg Peri:71.711°
Magnitude:1.0
(1911 apparition)
Last P:10 October 1911

Comet Beljawsky, formally designated as C/1911 S3, is a comet discovered by the Russian astronomer Sergei Ivanovich Beljawsky on September 29, 1911 and shortly thereafter, it was seen independently by four or five other observers in the United States and probably by others throughout the world. At the time it was discovered, the comet was near to the Sun which made observations difficult. However, several days after discovery it was a naked-eye object for a few days in the morning sky and later, after perihelion, as an evening object. It faded rapidly, becoming visible only in telescopes and was last seen on February 17, 1912. The comet sported a tail 8 to 10 degrees in length. In mid-October, the comet was visible in the evening sky together with another bright comet, C/1911 O1 (Brooks).

Comet Beljawsky is a non-periodic comet noteworthy for having a hyperbolic trajectory and so it is not expected to return to the inner Solar System.