C/1862 N1 (Schmidt)
Hyperbolic comet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
C/1862 N1 (Schmidt), sometimes referred to as C/1862 N1 (Schmidt–Tempel), is a non-periodic comet discovered by Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt on 2 July 1862.
1862 II[1]
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Johann Schmidt Wilhelm Tempel |
| Discovery site | Athens Observatory |
| Discovery date | 2 July 1862 |
| Designations | |
| Comet Schmidt–Tempel 1862 II[1] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2][3] | |
| Epoch | 4 July 1862 (JD 2401325.5) |
| Observation arc | 29 days |
| Number of observations | 72 |
| Aphelion | ~1,935 AU (inbound) |
| Perihelion | 0.981 AU |
| Semi-major axis | ~968 AU (inbound) |
| Eccentricity | 0.99898 (inbound) 1.00002 (outbound) |
| Orbital period | ~30,100 years (inbound) |
| Inclination | 172.11° |
| 328.44° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 27.166° |
| Mean anomaly | 359.25° |
| Last perihelion | 22 June 1862 |
| Physical characteristics[4] | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 9.4 |
| 4–5 (1862 apparition) | |
Observational history
The comet was discovered on 2 July 1862 Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt, then director of the National Observatory of Athens, and a few hours later was discovered by Wilhelm Tempel, at Marseille Observatory. The comet upon discovery was located in the constellation Cassiopeia and Schmidt described the comet as being tailless, with a coma 22 arcminutes across, and visible with the naked eye. Temple estimated its magnitude to be 4–5. Schmidt observed the comet again on July 4 and noted a tail half a degree long.[4]
The comet passed at a distance of 0.0982 AU (14.69 million km) from Earth on 4 July, making it the fourth closest known approach of a comet to Earth in the 19th century.[5] Consequently the comet moved away from both the Earth and the Sun, while brightening moonlight hampered observations. The comet was last observed with the naked eye on 7 July. The comet faded rapidly throughout the month and it was last observed on 31 July.[4]
Meteors
The comet has been tentatively associated with the weak meteor shower ζ Arietids, observed between 13 and 25 August. The minimum orbital intersection distance between the comet and Earth is 0.028 AU.[6][7]