 Comet NEAT on February 1, 2003 | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | S. H. Pravdo |
| Discovery site | NEAT–Haleakalā (608) |
| Discovery date | 6 November 2002 |
| Designations | |
| CK02V010[1] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2][3] | |
| Epoch | 26 December 2002 (JD 2452634.5) |
| Observation arc | 350 days |
| Number of observations | 1,510 |
| Aphelion | 2,020 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.0992 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 1,010 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.999902 |
| Orbital period | 32,123 years |
| Inclination | 81.706° |
| 64.088° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 152.170° |
| Last perihelion | 18 February 2003 |
| TJupiter | 0.061 |
| EarthMOID | 0.1511 AU |
| JupiterMOID | 0.9175 AU |
| Physical characteristics[6][7] | |
Mean radius | 1.57±0.16 km |
| Mass | 6.6×1012 kg |
Meandensity | 470±70 kg/m3 |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 6.0 |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 13.8 |
| –0.5[4] (2003 apparition)[5] | |
Comet NEAT, formally designated asC/2002 V1, is a non-periodiccomet that appeared in November 2002.[1] The comet peaked with anapparent magnitude of approximately –0.5, making it the eighth-brightest comet seen since 1935.[5] It was seen bySOHO in February 2003. At perihelion the comet was only 0.0992 AU (14.84 million km) from the Sun, where it was initially expected to be disintegrated, however reanalysis of its orbit has indicated that it has survived many of its previous perihelia, thus making breakup unlikely.[8]
Comet NEAT was discovered from the 1.2 m (3.9 ft)Schmidt telescope of theHaleakalā Observatory as a magnitude-17 object on 6 November 2002 on the course of theNear-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) survey.[4] The comet became visible in the naked eye by January 2003.[9][10][11]
The comet was hit by acoronal mass ejection during its perihelion on 18 February 2003,[12][13] where it was only 5.7 degrees from the Sun fromEarth's perspective.[2][14] Speculation that the CME was caused by the comet's close approach was dismissed by scientists; comets and CMEs occur close together in time only by coincidence,[15][16] and there were 56 CMEs recorded in February 2003.[17] C/2002 V1 (NEAT) appeared impressive as viewed by theSolar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) as a result of theforward scattering of light off of the dust in the coma and tail. The comet remained observable with telescopes until October 2003.[3]
The orbit of a long-period comet is properly obtained when theosculating orbit is computed at anepoch after leaving the planetary region and is calculated with respect to thecenter of mass of the Solar System. UsingJPL Horizons, the barycentric orbital elements for epoch 2020-Jan-01 generate asemi-major axis of 1,100 AU, anapoapsis distance of 2,230 AU, and a period of approximately 37,000 years.[2]
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