 Comet Kearns–Kwee photographed from theZwicky Transient Facility on 31 January 2019 | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Charles E. Kearns Kiem King Kwee |
| Discovery site | Palomar Observatory |
| Discovery date | 17 August 1963 |
| Designations | |
| P/1963 Q1, P/1971 O1 | |
| |
| Orbital characteristics[3][4] | |
| Epoch | 25 February 2023 (JD 2460000.5) |
| Observation arc | 55.62 years |
| Number of observations | 1,849 |
| Aphelion | 6.618 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.348 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 4.483 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.47617 |
| Orbital period | 9.492 years |
| Inclination | 9.344° |
| 312.79° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 127.52° |
| Mean anomaly | 168.35° |
| Last perihelion | 16 September 2018 |
| Next perihelion | 15 March 2028[2] |
| TJupiter | 2.771 |
| EarthMOID | 1.381 AU |
| JupiterMOID | 0.006 AU |
| Physical characteristics[5] | |
Mean radius | 0.79±0.03 km |
| 0.04 (assumed) | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 10.4 |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 14.7 |
59P/Kearns–Kwee is aperiodic comet in theSolar System with a current orbital period of 9.49 years.[3][6]
It was discovered by Charles E. Kearns and Kiem King Kwee on a photographic plate taken on 17 August 1963 during a search for the then-lost comet55P/Tempel–Tuttle, and was later confirmed byElizabeth Roemer at theUS Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station in Arizona. She estimated its brightness at a faint magnitude of 16. The perihelion was initially calculated as 28 October 1963 and the periodicity as 8.48 years, but calculations based on further observations revised the data to 7 December and 8.95 years.
The 1972 apparition was observed by Elizabeth Roemer and L. M. Vaughn of theUniversity of Arizona, using the 229-cm reflector at Kitt Peak as early as 26 July 1971. It was relocated in 1981 byTsutomu Seki of Japan and again on 10 September 1989 by J. Gibson atPalomar Observatory. It was also successfully re-observed in 1999 and 2009.
The nucleus of the comet has an effective radius of0.79±0.03 km, assuming ageometric albedo of 0.04.[5]
| Numbered comets | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous 58P/Jackson–Neujmin | 59P/Kearns–Kwee | Next 60P/Tsuchinshan |
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