C/1954 O1 (Vozarova) Explained

C/1954 O1 (Vozarova)
Discoverer:Margita V. Kresáková
Discovery Site:Skalnaté pleso Observatory
Discovery Date:28 July 1954
Designations:1954f
1954 VIII
Epoch:9 November 1954 (JD 2435055.5)
Observation Arc:144 days
Obs:60
Perihelion:0.7812 AU
Semimajor:–10.6066 AU
Eccentricity:1.07365
Inclination:115.184°
Asc Node:123.986°
Arg Peri:5.108°
Earth Moid:0.2005 AU
Jupiter Moid:3.5469 AU
Magnitude:9.0
(1954 apparition)
Last P:1 June 1954

Comet Vozarova, formally designated C/1954 O1, is a hyperbolic comet discovered by Slovak astronomer, Margita Vozárová, on July 28, 1954.

Discovery and observation

The comet was already on its outbound flight as a magnitude 9.0 object upon discovery, where some observers noticed it also may have potentially fragmented.

By August, the comet was found to have a 20-arcminute long tail pointed towards the Sun. It was last observed from the Lick Observatory as a magnitude 18.5 object on December 18, 1954.