| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Lewis A. Swift |
| Discovery site | Mount Lowe Obs. |
| Discovery date | 24 August 1895 |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 25 August 1895 (JD 2413430.5) |
| Observation arc | 166 days |
| Number of observations | 182 |
| Aphelion | 6.1609 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.2978 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 3.7293 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.9725 |
| Orbital period | 7.2 years |
| Inclination | 2.9923° |
| Longitude of ascending node | 171.75° |
| Argument of periapsis | 167.78° |
| Last perihelion | 21 August 1895 (observed) 17 February 2019 (calculated) |
| Next perihelion | 19 September 2026 (calculated) |
| TJupiter | 2.677 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Apparent magnitude | 13.0 (1895 apparition) |
D/1895 Q1 (Swift) is one of 13 comets discovered by American astronomer, Lewis A. Swift. A Jupiter-family comet, it was last seen in February 1896 and was not observed since.
Possible encounter with Mariner 4
On September 15, 1967, the Mariner 4 spacecraft encountered a dense "meteor storm" that is more intense than anything seen from Earth for 45 minutes, which may have damaged bits of insulation and temporarily changed the attitude of the spacecraft. What caused it remained a mystery until in 2006, astronomer Paul Wiegert examined old comet data and found that Mariner 4 would have been 20 million km (12 million mi) from the possibly shattered nucleus of D/1895 Q1 (Swift). However, Wiegert noted that the comet's orbit during its 1895 apparition wasn't precisely known, leading to a large potential error in the comet's expected location in 1967.
See also
References
- ^ G. W. Kronk. "D/1895 Q1 (Swift)". Cometography.com. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- "D/1895 Q1 (Swift) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- S. Yoshida (11 March 2019). "D/1895 Q1 ( Swift )". Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- E. Frisby; G. A. Hill (1895). "Observations of comet 1895a". Astronomical Journal. 15 (357): 174–175. Bibcode:1895AJ.....15..174F. doi:10.1086/102311.
- T. Phillips (23 August 2006). "Mariner Meteor Mystery, Solved?". science.nasa.gov. NASA. Archived from the original on 6 April 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
- T. Phillips (24 August 2006). "Has the Mariner Meteor Mystery Been Solved". Mars Daily. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
External links
- D/1895 Q1 at the JPL Small-Body Database
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