APOD: Comet Olbers over Kunetice Castle (2024 Aug 01)

[APOD Robot]

Comet Olbers over Kunetice Castle

Explanation: A visitor to the inner solar system every 70 years or so Comet 13P/Olbers reached its most recent perihelion, or closest approach to the Sun, on June 30 2024. Now on a return voyage to the distant Oort cloud the Halley-type comet is recorded here sweeping through northern summer night skies over historic Kunetice Castle, Czech Republic. Along with a broad dust tail, and brighter coma, this comet's long ion tail buffeted by storms and winds from the Sun, is revealed in the composite of tracked exposures for comet and sky, and fixed exposures for foreground landscape recorded on July 28. The comet is about 16 light-minutes beyond the castle and seen against faint background stars below the northern constellation Ursa Major. The hilltop castle dates to the 15th century, while Heinrich Olbers discovered the comet in 1815. Captured here low in northwestern skies just after sunset Comet Olbers, for now, offers skywatchers on planet Earth rewarding telescopic and binocular views. Comet 13P/Olbers next perihelion passage will be in 2094.

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[paulocarvalhoRJ]

Can a short-period comet originate from the Oort cloud?

[Chris Peterson]

Can a short-period comet originate from the Oort cloud?

Yes, but most seem to have originated in the Kuiper belt and were perturbed into short period orbits by interactions with Jupiter and the Sun. Most short-period comets are in orbits with fairly small inclinations, consistent with a Kuiper belt origin. Long-period comets are in random inclinations, consistent with an Oort cloud origin.

[worley]

A visitor to the inner solar system every 70 years or so Comet 13P/Olbers ... Now on a return voyage to the distant Oort cloud ...

A comet with a 70-year period isn't returning to the Oort cloud! (Wikipedia tells me that Olbers has an aphelion of 32 AU but the Oort cloud starts around 2000 AU out.)

[MelvzLuster]

Comets are signs that we have a healthy Universe just like the butterflies or dragonflies in an ecosystem. Comet Olbers journey in our skies is positively bringing us good luck for optimistic like us. We are still alive on its return in 2094 for sure.

[Chris Peterson]

A visitor to the inner solar system every 70 years or so Comet 13P/Olbers ... Now on a return voyage to the distant Oort cloud ...

A comet with a 70-year period isn't returning to the Oort cloud! (Wikipedia tells me that Olbers has an aphelion of 32 AU but the Oort cloud starts around 2000 AU out.)

Yeah, that's an odd assertion. It gets about as far from the Sun as Neptune (although orbiting on a different plane).

[Joe Stieber]

A visitor to the inner solar system every 70 years or so Comet 13P/Olbers ... Now on a return voyage to the distant Oort cloud ...

A comet with a 70-year period isn't returning to the Oort cloud! (Wikipedia tells me that Olbers has an aphelion of 32 AU but the Oort cloud starts around 2000 AU out.)

Yeah, that's an odd assertion. It gets about as far from the Sun as Neptune (although orbiting on a different plane).

That would be Uranus rather than Neptune. The nominal semi-major axes are... 13P = 17 au; Uranus = 19 au; Neptune = 30 au. Of course, the difference between Uranus and Neptune is trivial compared to the distance to the Oort cloud.

BTW, a nice picture for today's APOD, as is typical of Horálek's work. I like that he avoided having the comet "growing" out of the tower's pinnacle. I was looking at 13P/Olbers yesterday evening, but visually with a 35x115 mm spotting scope under a hazy sky in the New Jersey Pines looking towards the Philadelphia light dome, it's just a vague smudge.

[Chris Peterson]

A comet with a 70-year period isn't returning to the Oort cloud! (Wikipedia tells me that Olbers has an aphelion of 32 AU but the Oort cloud starts around 2000 AU out.)

Yeah, that's an odd assertion. It gets about as far from the Sun as Neptune (although orbiting on a different plane).

That would be Uranus rather than Neptune. The nominal semi-major axes are... 13P = 17 au; Uranus = 19 au; Neptune = 30 au. Of course, the difference between Uranus and Neptune is trivial compared to the distance to the Oort cloud.

BTW, a nice picture for today's APOD, as is typical of Horálek's work. I like that he avoided having the comet "growing" out of the tower's pinnacle. I was looking at 13P/Olbers yesterday evening, but visually with a 35x115 mm spotting scope under a hazy sky in the New Jersey Pines looking towards the Philadelphia light dome, it's just a vague smudge.

A comet aphelion of 32 AU puts it about at the distance of Neptune, a = 30 AU.

[paulocarvalhoRJ]

Can a short-period comet originate from the Oort cloud?

Yes, but most seem to have originated in the Kuiper belt and were perturbed into short period orbits by interactions with Jupiter and the Sun. Most short-period comets are in orbits with fairly small inclinations, consistent with a Kuiper belt origin. Long-period comets are in random inclinations, consistent with an Oort cloud origin.

Thank you!