C/1925 V1 (Wilk–Peltier)
Hyperbolic comet
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Comet Wilk–Peltier, formal designation C/1925 V1, is a faint hyperbolic comet that was observed through telescopes in late 1925. It was the first comet discovered by American astronomer, Leslie C. Peltier, of which he co-discovered with Polish astronomer, Antoni Wilk.
Leslie C. Peltier
Delphos, Ohio
1925 XI
Comet Wilk–Peltier photographed by George van Biesbroeck from the Yerkes Observatory on 10 December 1925[1] | |
| Discovery[2][3] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Antoni Wilk Leslie C. Peltier |
| Discovery site | Kraków, Poland Delphos, Ohio |
| Discovery date | 13–19 November 1925 |
| Designations | |
| 1925k[4] 1925 XI | |
| Orbital characteristics[5] | |
| Epoch | 7 December 1925 (JD 2424491.7674) |
| Observation arc | 40 days |
| Number of observations | 164 |
| Perihelion | 0.764 AU |
| Eccentricity | 1.00051 |
| Inclination | 144.598° |
| 141.782° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 126.130° |
| Last perihelion | 7 December 1925 |
| Physical characteristics[6][7] | |
Mean radius | 0.449 km (0.279 mi)[a] |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 9.6 |
| 7.0 (1925 apparition) | |
Observational history
Discovery
Leslie C. Peltier spotted the comet on the evening of 13 November 1925. He estimated the comet as an 8th or 9th-magnitude object, which at the time was located within the constellation Boötes.[b] He informed the Harvard College Observatory and the Yerkes Observatory of his discovery to conduct a photographic search on 16–17 November, but failed to see the comet. It was not until Antoni Wilk independently found the same object from Poland on 19 November 1925.[c]
Although initially uncertain whether or not Peltier and Wilk discovered the same object, Leon Campbell reexamined the photographic plates obtained by the Harvard Observatory and found a faint trail of the comet on the edges of both plates taken on the 16th and 17th, thus confirming their discovery.[7] At the time, some publications refer to the comet as "Peltier–Wilk" since Peltier was the first to discover the comet.[8][9][10] It was officially renamed to "Wilk–Peltier" as Wilk's announcement allowed follow-up observations to be conducted by other observatories around the globe.[2][3]
Follow-up observations
George van Biesbroeck made the last known observations of the comet on 31 December 1925, where he noted it is now a diffuse object that is very low on the horizon as he obtained 3-minute exposures from a 61 cm (24 in) refractor.[d]
Orbit
On 17 November 1925, Wilk–Peltier made its closest approach to Earth at a distance of 0.5743 AU (85.91 million km). Its first orbital calculations were calculated by C. W. Ebell in 1926, which were later refined by van Biesbroeck,[11] Richard A. Rossiter,[12] Louis J. Berman,[13] and others. Their work reveals the comet had a parabolic trajectory with a perihelion date on 6 December 1925. Later in 1929, Felicjan Kępiński revised this to a weakly hyperbolic trajectory and a perihelion date on December 7th, however he did not apply any planetary perturbations into account.[14]
