 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Dae-am Yi Robert D. Matson (SWAN) |
| Discovery site | SOHO |
| Discovery date | 26 March 2009 |
| Orbital characteristics[1][2] | |
| Epoch | 22 May 2009 (JD 2454973.5) |
| Observation arc | 330 days |
| Earliestprecovery date | 25 March 2009 |
| Number of observations | 487 |
| Aphelion | 904 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.274 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 453 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.99751 |
| Orbital period | ~9,600 years |
| Inclination | 85.764° |
| 278.68° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 129.77° |
| Mean anomaly | 0.0012° |
| Last perihelion | 8 May 2009 |
| TJupiter | 0.113 |
| EarthMOID | 0.505 AU |
| JupiterMOID | 0.724 AU |
| Physical characteristics[3][4] | |
Mean radius | 2.54 km (1.58 mi) |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 9.7 |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 13.2 |
| 8.3 (2009 apparition) | |
C/2009 F6 (Yi–SWAN) is anon-periodic comet which first appeared in March 2009.
On 4 April 2009, Robert D. Matson reported the discovery of a comet spotted from images taken by the SWAN instrument of theSOHO spacecraft.[5] Around the same time, Hereupon H. Yamaoka of theUniversity of Tokyo received an email from South Korean astronomer,Dae-am Yi, where he reported that he had discovered the comet nine days earlier on 26 March, at the time a 12th-magnitude object within the constellationLacerta.[4]
The comet was too dim to be seen by the naked eye, though it was observed through small telescopes. It is hard to watch because it is small with a tiny tail in the visible-light spectrum. The comet reached a peak magnitude of 8.3 on 6 April,[5] and passed 1.5 degrees south of theDouble cluster inPerseus on 23 April.[6] Preliminary calculations of its orbit byBrian G. Marsden indicate the comet is traveling in a highly inclined parabolic orbit, tipped 85.7° to the plane of the ecliptic. It reached perihelion on 8 May, where it came as close as 1.27 AU (190 million km) from the Sun.[6]
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