C/1959 Q2 (Alcock)
Hyperbolic comet
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Comet Alcock, formally designated as C/1959 Q2, is a relatively bright hyperbolic comet that only appeared for a week in September 1959. It was the second comet discovered by English astronomer George Alcock.
| |
| Discovery[2] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | George E. D. Alcock |
| Discovery site | Peterborough, England |
| Discovery date | 30 August 1959 |
| Designations | |
| 1959 VI, 1959f[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[4] | |
| Epoch | 4 September 1959 (JD 2436815.5) |
| Observation arc | 5 days |
| Number of observations | 14 |
| Perihelion | 0.166 AU |
| Eccentricity | 1.00043 |
| Inclination | 108.04° |
| 225.84° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 300.54° |
| Mean anomaly | –0.002° |
| Last perihelion | 15 September 1959 |
| Earth MOID | 0.161 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 2.839 AU |
| Physical characteristics[5][6] | |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 8.1–11.0 |
| 4.7 (1959 apparition) | |
Observational history
Shortly after discovering C/1959 Q1 George Alcock found his second comet using a pair of binoculars on the night of 30 August 1959.[2] He described the new comet as a diffuse, sixth-magnitude object with a central condensation and a small tail, located within the constellation Cancer.[a]
Elizabeth Roemer took long-exposure photographs of the comet from the US Naval Observatory on 1 September 1959, reporting a sharply-condensed nucleus and a tail over a degree in length.[1] By the following day, Alois Purgathofer,[7] George van Biesbroeck, and D. P. Elias also observed the comet, where it was reported that the comet had slightly brightened to 5.7 in apparent magnitude.[8] On 4 September it brightened further to magnitude 4.7.[5]
The comet was last seen by Roemer on 6 September 1959 within the constellation Hydra,[b] shortly before an expected solar conjunction the following day.[9]