14P/Wolf
Periodic comet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
14P/Wolf is a periodic comet with an 8.78-year orbit around the Sun. It is the first of three comets discovered by German astronomer, Max Wolf.[a]
14P/Wolf imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope on 17 September 2000 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Max Wolf |
| Discovery site | Heidelberg, Germany |
| Discovery date | 17 September 1884 |
| Designations | |
| P/1884 S1, P/1891 J1 | |
| |
| Orbital characteristics[1][2] | |
| Epoch | 5 May 2024 (JD 2460800.5) |
| Observation arc | 140.85 years |
| Number of observations | 749 |
| Aphelion | 5.775 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.738 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 4.256 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.35669 |
| Orbital period | 8.782 years |
| Inclination | 27.918° |
| 202.03° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 159.19° |
| Mean anomaly | 303.66° |
| Last perihelion | 1 December 2017 |
| Next perihelion | 19 September 2026[3][2] |
| TJupiter | 2.716 |
| Earth MOID | 1.746 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.046 AU |
| Physical characteristics[4] | |
Mean radius | 3.16±0.01 km |
Mean density | 0.32±0.02 g/cm3 |
| 9.02±0.01 hours[5] | |
| |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 15.6 |
Observational history
Max Wolf discovered the comet from Heidelberg, Germany on 17 September 1884, about 15 days before it passed 0.8 AU (120 million km) from Earth. It was later rediscovered by, but not credited to, Ralph Copeland (Dun Echt Observatory, Aberdeen, Scotland) on September 23.[citation needed]
Orbit
| Perihelion distance at different epochs[6] | |||||||
| Epoch | Perihelion (AU) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1869 | 2.74 | ||||||
| 1878 | 1.57 | ||||||
| 1925 | 2.44 | ||||||
| 2009 | 2.72 | ||||||
| 2044 | 2.44 | ||||||
| 2068 | 2.62 | ||||||
Before approaching Jupiter in 1875, the comet had a perihelion of 2.74 AU (410 million km) and an orbital period of 8.84 years, and the approach dropped perihelion to 1.57 AU (235 million km).[6] An approach to Jupiter in September 1922 lifted perihelion to 2.43 AU (364 million km).[7] The current perihelion of 2.7 AU is from when the comet passed Jupiter on 13 August 2005. Another close approach to Jupiter on 10 March 2041 will return the comet to parameters similar to the period 1925–2000.[8]
Physical characteristics
Notes
- His other comet discoveries were C/1916 G1 (Wolf) and 43P/Wolf–Harrington
