68P/Klemola

68P/Klemola
Discovery
Discovered byArnold Richard Klemola [de]
Discovery dateNovember 1965
Designations
1965j 1965 VI, 1976j, 1976 X, 1987th, 1987th XIV
Orbital characteristics
Aphelion8.032 AU
Perihelion1.755 AU[1]
Semi-major axis4.896 AU
Eccentricity0.6407
Orbital period10.82 a[2]
Inclination11.1°[2]
Last perihelionNovember 9, 2019[3][4][5]
January 20, 2009
Next perihelion2030-Nov-04[6]

68P/Klemola or Klemola's Comet is a periodic comet, which belongs to Jupiter's comet family, that was discovered in 1965 by American astronomer Arnold Richard Klemola [de] in Argentinian Yale-Columbia Southern Station.[2] Its orbital period is 10.82 years.[2]

It was observed at the next predicted apparition by Gérard Sause at the Observatoire de Haute Provence, France on 6 August 1976 with a brightness of magnitude 12. It was successfully observed in 1987 when J. Gibson of the Palomar Observatory, California, obtained images with the 1.5-meter reflector on 16 February. It appeared essentially stellar, with a faint magnitude of 19. It was observed again on 29 March 1997 by Carl W. Hergenrother at the F. L. Whipple Observatory, with perihelion on 1 May 1998.

68P came to opposition on 14 June 2019 and perihelion on November 9, 2019.[3]

  1. ^ Fernández, Julio Angel (2005), Comets: nature, dynamics, origin, and their cosmogonical relevance, Springer Science + Business Media, p. 344, ISBN 1-4020-3490-3
  2. ^ a b c d Zombeck, Martin V. (2007), Handbook of space astronomy and astrophysics (3rd ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 61, ISBN 978-0-521-78242-5
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference MPC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Yoshida-68p was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Patrick Rocher (January 15, 2010). "Note number : 0023 P/Klemola : 68P". Institut de mécanique céleste et de calcul des éphémérides. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Horizons2030 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).