Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovered by | Patricia McKenzie Kenneth S. Russell |
Discovery site | Anglo-Australian Observatory |
Discovery date | 21 December 1989 |
Designations | |
Alternative designations | 1989f1 1989 XVIII |
Orbital characteristics | |
Epoch | 30 December 1989 (JD 2447890.5) |
Observation arc | 50 days |
Earliest precovery date | 19 December 1989 |
Number of observations | 45 |
Perihelion | 1.976 AU |
Eccentricity | 0.99999 |
Inclination | 160.366° |
Longitude of ascending node | 293.896° |
Argument of periapsis | 191.736° |
Last perihelion | 7 November 1989 |
TJupiter | –1.641 |
Earth MOID | 0.9962 AU |
Jupiter MOID | 1.4407 AU |
Comet total magnitude (M1) | 10.0 |
Comet McKenzie–Russell, formally designated as C/1989 Y2, is a hyperbolic comet that was discovered by Australian astronomers, Patricia McKenzie and Kenneth S. Russell on December 1989.
Discovery and observations
Robert H. McNaught reported the discovery of a new comet that Patricia McKenzie found on photographic plates that Kenneth S. Russell took on 21 December 1989. Prediscovery images from Japan were taken in 19 December 1989 but went unnoticed until the next year. Orbital calculations of the comet revealed it was already on its outbound flight as it had reached perihelion a month before discovery, and as a result it continued to fade away in the following days. It was last observed on 24 January 1990.
References
- ^ B. G. Marsden (26 December 1989). "Comet McKenzie–Russell (1989f1)". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 4930.
- "Comet Names and Designations". International Comet Quarterly. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
- "C/1989 Y2 (McKenzie–Russell) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
- B. G. Marsden (4 January 1990). "Comet McKenzie–Russell (1989f1)". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 4938. Bibcode:1990IAUC.4938....2S.
- J. Svoren (1998). "Comet astrometry made at the Skalnate Pleso Observatory in the year 1990". Contributions of the Astronomical Observatory Skalnate Pleso Supplement. 28 (1): 73–81. Bibcode:1998CoSkS..28...73S.
- "Observation list for C/1989 Y2". COBS – Comet OBServation database. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
External links
- C/1989 Y2 at the JPL Small-Body Database
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