 The nucleus of Comet Borrelly as seen by NASA'sDeep Space 1 mission in 22 September 2001. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Alphonse Borrelly |
| Discovery site | Marseille, France |
| Discovery date | 28 December 1904 |
| Designations | |
| P/1904 Y2, P/1911 S1 | |
| |
| Orbital characteristics[2][3] | |
| Epoch | 9 August 2022 (JD 2459800.5) |
| Aphelion | 5.90 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.306 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 3.61 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.6377 |
| Orbital period | 6.85 years |
| Inclination | 29.30° |
| Last perihelion | 1 February 2022 |
| Next perihelion | 11 December 2028[1] |
| EarthMOID | 0.36 AU |
| Physical characteristics[2] | |
| Dimensions | 8.0 × 4.0 × 4.0 km (5.0 × 2.5 × 2.5 mi)[4] |
| Mass | 2×1013 kg[a] |
Meandensity | 0.3 g/cm3[5] |
| 0.022[6] | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 9.8 |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 13.2 |
| Perihelion distance at recent epochs[3] | |||||||
| Epoch | Perihelion (AU) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2028 | 1.310[1] | ||||||
| 2022 | 1.306 | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.349 | ||||||
| 2008 | 1.355 | ||||||
Comet Borrelly/bɒˈrɛli/ orBorrelly's Comet (official designation:19P/Borrelly) is acomet with a period of 6.85 years that was visited by theDeep Space 1 spacecraft in 2001. The comet last came toperihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 1 February 2022[3][7] and will next come to perihelion on 11 December 2028.[1]
| Date & time of closest approach | Earth distance (AU) | Sun distance (AU) | Velocity wrt Earth (km/s) | Velocity wrt Sun (km/s) | Uncertainty region (3-sigma) | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2028-Dec-05 19:12 ± 6 min | 0.413 AU (61.8 million km; 38.4 million mi; 161 LD) | 1.31 AU (196 million km; 122 million mi; 510 LD) | 17.3 | 33.3 | ± 35 thousand km | Horizons |
Deep Space 1 returned images of the comet's nucleus from 3400 kilometers away. At 45 meters per pixel, it was the highest resolution view ever seen of a comet up until that time.[8]
The comet was discovered byAlphonse Borrelly during a routine search for comets atMarseille,France on December 28, 1904.
On September 21, 2001 the spacecraftDeep Space 1, which was launched to test new equipment in space, performed a flyby of Borrelly. It was steered toward the comet during the extended mission of the craft, and presented an unexpected bonus for the mission scientists. Despite the failure of a system that helped determine its orientation, Deep Space 1 managed to send back toEarth what were, at the time, the best images and other science data from a comet.
| Numbered comets | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous 18D/Perrine–Mrkos | 19P/Borrelly | Next 20D/Westphal |
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