Comet Humason, formally designated C/1961 R1 (a.k.a. 1962 VIII and 1961e), was a non-periodic comet discovered by Milton L. Humason on September 1, 1961. Its perihelion was well beyond the orbit of Mars, at 2.133 AU. The outbound orbital period is about 2,516 years. The diameter of its comet nucleus is estimated at 30−41 km.[2]
_September_4,_1962.jpg) Comet Humason on September 4, 1962, by the Palomar Observatory | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Milton L. Humason |
| Discovery date | 1 September 1961 |
| Designations | |
| 1961e 1962 VIII | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch | 12 May 1963 (JD 2438161.5) |
| Observation arc | 1,517 days (4.15 years) |
| Number of observations | 80 |
| Aphelion | 408.706 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.1334 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 205.419 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.98961 |
| Orbital period | 2883 years (barycentric inbound) 2516 years (barycentric outbound) |
| Inclination | 153.278° |
| 155.439° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 233.562° |
| Last perihelion | 10 December 1962 |
| TJupiter | –1.588 |
| Earth MOID | 1.2247 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 1.0725 AU |
| Physical characteristics[2][3] | |
| Dimensions | 30−41 km |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 1.5–3.5 |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 10.1 |
It was a "giant" comet, much more active than a normal comet for its distance to the Sun, with an absolute magnitude of 1.5−3.5, it could have been up to a hundred times brighter than an average new comet. It had an unusually disrupted or "turbulent" appearance.[3] It was also unusual in that the spectrum of its tail showed a strong predominance of the ion CO , a result previously seen unambiguously only in Comet Morehouse (C/1908 R1).[4]
References
edit- ^ "C/1961 R1 – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
- ^ a b "Comets: Comet Humason 1961e". Irish Astronomical Journal. 6: 191. 1964. Bibcode:1964IrAJ....6Q.191.
- ^ a b Brandt & Chapman (2004). Introduction to Comets. Cambridge University Press. p. 156.
- ^ W. Huebner (1990). Physics and chemistry of comets. Springer-Verlag. p. 246.
External links
edit
Media related to Comet Humason at Wikimedia Commons- Humason at the JPL Small-Body Database
 | This comet-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |