Page 1 of 1
APOD: Comet C/2023 E1 ATLAS near Perihelion (2023 Jul 14)
Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2023 4:06 am
by APOD Robot
Comet C/2023 E1 ATLAS near Perihelion
Explanation: Comet C/2023 E1 (ATLAS) 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
captured in this frame 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
visitor to the inner Solar System will be a mere 3 light-minutes or so from our fair planet.
Based on its inclination to the ecliptic plane
and orbital period of about 85 years C/2023 E1 (ATLAS) is
considered a
Halley-type comet.
Re: APOD: Comet C/2023 E1 ATLAS near Perihelion (2023 Jul 14)
Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2023 2:39 pm
by johnnydeep
That
Minor Planet Center link (and even more so the
Small Body Database link) show some impressively precise numbers. I wonder how accurate they really are. Examples:
Code: Select all
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
And
Code: Select all
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
Re: APOD: Comet C/2023 E1 ATLAS near Perihelion (2023 Jul 14)
Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2023 4:15 pm
by zendae1
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?
Re: APOD: Comet C/2023 E1 ATLAS near Perihelion (2023 Jul 14)
Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2023 5:28 pm
by Chris Peterson
zendae1 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 4:15 pm
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?
Not close. At perihelion it was far above the plane of the Solar System (note the 38° inclination).
Re: APOD: Comet C/2023 E1 ATLAS near Perihelion (2023 Jul 14)
Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2023 7:50 pm
by orin stepanek
It is indeed a pretty comet; Most are!
![Cool 8-)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)
I can see why it is called a
Hayleys type comet as the period is similar!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)