C/2010 X1 (Elenin)

For beliefs regarding a supposed collision between Earth and Comet Elenin, see Nibiru cataclysm.
C/2010 X1 (Elenin)
Comet Elenin as seen by the STEREO-B spacecraft on August 1st, 2011.
Discovery
Discovered byLeonid Elenin
0.45-m reflector (H15)[1][2]
Discovery dateDecember 10, 2010
Orbital characteristics
EpochMarch 31, 2011
(JD 2455651.5)[3]
Orbit typeOort cloud
Aphelion~97,000 AU (1.5 ly) (inbound)[4]
Perihelion0.48242 AU[3]
Semi-major axis~48000 AU (inbound)[4]
Eccentricity1.000067 (heliocentric)[3]
0.999990 (inbound)[4]
Orbital periodmillions of years (inbound)[4]
Inclination1.8396°[3]
Last perihelion10 September 2011[3]
Next perihelionunknown/disintegrated

Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin) is an Oort cloud comet discovered by Russian amateur astronomer Leonid Elenin on December 10, 2010, through remote control of the International Scientific Optical Network's robotic observatory near Mayhill in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The discovery was made using the automated asteroids discovery program CoLiTec.[5] At the time of discovery, the comet had an apparent magnitude of 19.5,[2] which made it about 150,000 times fainter than can be seen with the naked eye.[6] The discoverer, Leonid Elenin, originally estimated that the comet nucleus was 3–4 km in diameter,[7] but more recent estimates place the pre-breakup size of the comet at 2 km.[8] Comet Elenin started disintegrating in August 2011,[9] and as of mid-October 2011 was not visible even using large ground-based telescopes.[10]

  1. ^ "IAUC 9189: C/2010 X1; P/2010 V1". IAU Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 2010-12-17. Retrieved 2011-03-15.
  2. ^ a b "MPEC 2010-X101: COMET C/2010 X1 (ELENIN)". IAU Minor Planet Center. 2010-12-12. Retrieved 2011-03-15.
  3. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference jpl-close was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference barycenter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "CoLiTec - Collection Light Technology, software for automated asteroids and comets discoveries".
  6. ^ Math:
  7. ^ Elenin, Leonid. "Comet Elenin FAQ | SpaceObs". Archived from the original on 2011-06-17. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  8. ^ "NASA Says Comet Elenin Gone and Should Be Forgotten". NASA/JPL. October 25, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-26. (Backup link)
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference UT2011-08 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Remanzacco2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).