479P/Elenin Explained

479P/Elenin
Discoverer:Leonid Elenin[1]
0.45-m reflector (H15)[2] [3]
Discovery Date:7 July 2011
Designations:P/ (Elenin),
Epoch:15 June 2020[4]
(JD 2459015.5)
Semimajor:5.61 AU (a)
Perihelion:1.24 AU (q)
Aphelion:9.98 AU (Q)
Eccentricity:0.779
Period:13.28 yr
Inclination:15.40°
Asc Node:295.81°
Arg Peri:263.64°
Tjup:2.183
Earth Moid:0.38 AU
Last P:20 January 2011
Next P:5 May 2024
M1:15.2

479P/Elenin, with provisional designation P/ (Elenin), is a periodic comet with an orbital period estimated at 13.3 years.[4]

The comet was discovered on 7 July 2011[2] when the comet was 2.38 AU from the Sun and 1.4 AU from the Earth and had an apparent magnitude of 19.5. It had come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) around 20 January 2011 at 1.2 AU from the Sun.[4] P/2011 NO1 was the second comet discovered by Leonid Elenin. The first comet discovered by Elenin was comet C/2010 X1. Both comets were discovered with the aid of the automatic detection program CoLiTec.[5] It came to opposition 178.6° from the Sun on 22 July 2011 in the constellation Sagittarius.

On 29 January 2013 the Minor Planet Center awarded Leonid Elenin a 2012 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets by amateurs.[6]

Maik Meyer proposed that asteroid, which was discovered by PanSTARRS on 18 November 2023, is the return of P/ (Elenin).[7] [8] The link was later confirmed by Shuichi Nakano and Daniel Green.[9] The 2024 apparition was the most favorable in decades, with the comet brightening to an apparent magnitude of 10 to 11, with the comet approaching 0.62 AU to Earth on 4 May 2024, one day before perihelion. The comet appeared gasy and diffuse.[10]

The radius of the nucleus is estimated to be less than one kilometre.[11]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: New Comet: P/2011 NO1 . Associazione Fruilana di Astronomia e Meteorologia . Giovanni . Sostero . Nick . Howes . Ernesto . Guido . 19 July 2011 . 19 July 2011.
  2. Web site: MPEC 2011-O09 : 2011 NO1 . . 18 July 2011 . 19 July 2011.
  3. Web site: MPEC 2011-O10 : COMET P/2011 NO1 . IAU Minor Planet Center . 19 July 2011 . 19 July 2011.
  4. Web site: JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2011 NO1) . . 28 January 2024.
  5. Web site: CoLiTec . Automatic Detection of Asteroids and Comets CoLiTec (CLT) . 2012-10-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120513004322/http://neoastrasoft.com/category/news-en/ . 13 May 2012 . dead .
  6. Web site: 29 January 2013 . 2012 Comet Awards Announced . 2013-01-31.
  7. Web site: Meyer . Maik . 2023 WM26 = P/2011 NO1 (Elenin) . groups.io . 10 January 2024.
  8. Web site: MPEC 2023-Y72 : 2023 WM26 . Minor Planet Center . 21 December 2023 . 10 January 2024.
  9. Green . Daneil . COMET P/2023 WM_26 = P/2011 NO_1 (ELENIN) . Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams . 28 January 2024 . 5340 . 1 .
  10. Web site: ALPO COMET NEWS FOR MAY 2024 . The Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers . 21 June 2024.
  11. Fernández . Julio A. . Sosa . Andrea . Jupiter family comets in near-Earth orbits: Are some of them interlopers from the asteroid belt? . Planetary and Space Science . December 2015 . 118 . 14–24 . 10.1016/j.pss.2015.07.010.