Starship Asterisk*

[attachment=0]C_2023_E1_ATLAS_C14F2_DEBartlett1024.jpg[/attachment]
It is indeed a pretty comet; Most are! 8-) I can see why it is called a
Hayleys type comet as the period is similar! :D

[quote=zendae1 post_id=332303 time=1689351320]
So presently, Venus is a quite thin albeit bright crescent. I suppose it is then between Earth and Sun, not too many degrees off our orbit position. How close will this comet be to Venus?
[/quote]

Not close. At perihelion it was far above the plane of the Solar System (note the 38° inclination).

So presently, Venus is a quite thin albeit bright crescent. I suppose it is then between Earth and Sun, not too many degrees off our orbit position. How close will this comet be to Venus?

epoch					2023-02-25.0
epoch JD				2460000.5
perihelion date				2023-07-01.10688
perihelion JD				2460126.60689
argument of perihelion (°)		105.89384
ascending node (°)			164.57537
inclination (°)				38.31468
eccentricity				0.9469457
perihelion distance (AU)		1.0265959

Element		Value			Uncertainty (1-sigma)			Units
e		0.9469425191715206	5.2055E-6	
a		19.34909423191104	.0019231				au
q		1.026614196258061	1.3599E-6				au
i		38.31387448785777	.00017467				deg
node		164.574750058461	6.9693E-5				deg
peri		105.8933175972542	.00014119				deg
M		359.3850141717715	9.1833E-5				deg

That [url=https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=C/2023+E1]Minor Planet Center[/url] link (and even more so the [url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=C%2F2023%20E1]Small Body Database[/url] link) show some impressively precise numbers. I wonder how accurate they really are. Examples:

[code]
epoch 2023-02-25.0
epoch JD 2460000.5
perihelion date 2023-07-01.10688
perihelion JD 2460126.60689
argument of perihelion (°) 105.89384
ascending node (°) 164.57537
inclination (°) 38.31468
eccentricity 0.9469457
perihelion distance (AU) 1.0265959[/code]

And

[code]
Element Value Uncertainty (1-sigma) Units
e 0.9469425191715206 5.2055E-6
a 19.34909423191104 .0019231 au
q 1.026614196258061 1.3599E-6 au
i 38.31387448785777 .00017467 deg
node 164.574750058461 6.9693E-5 deg
peri 105.8933175972542 .00014119 deg
M 359.3850141717715 9.1833E-5 deg[/code]

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230714.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_230714.jpg[/img] [size=150]Comet C/2023 E1 ATLAS near Perihelion[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] [url=https://theskylive.com/c2023e1-info]Comet C/2023 E1 (ATLAS)[/url] was just spotted in March, another comet found by the NASA funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System. On July 1 this Comet ATLAS reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun. Shortly afterwards the telescopic comet was [url=https://www.astrobin.com/03ejcp/B/]captured in this frame[/url] sporting a pretty greenish coma and faint, narrow ion tail against a background of stars in the far northern constellation Ursa Minor. This comet's closest approach to Earth is still to come though. On August 18 this [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/overview/]visitor to the inner Solar System[/url] will be a mere 3 light-minutes or so from our fair planet. [url=https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=C/2023+E1]Based on its[/url] inclination to the ecliptic plane [url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=C%2F2023%20E1]and orbital[/url] period of about 85 years C/2023 E1 (ATLAS) is [url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014A%26A...563A.122W/abstract]considered[/url] a [url=https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/h/halley-type+comets]Halley-type comet[/url].


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