| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Theodor Brorsen |
| Discovery date | 1 May 1846 |
| Designations | |
| 1846 VII | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch | 7 June 1846 (JD 2395453.471) |
| Observation arc | 41 days |
| Number of observations | 170 |
| Aphelion | 131.6 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.634 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 66.1 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.9904 |
| Orbital period | 538 years |
| Inclination | 150.68° |
| 263.99° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 99.73° |
| Last perihelion | 5 June 1846 |
| TJupiter | -0.780 |
| EarthMOID | 0.049 AU[2] |
| Physical characteristics[3] | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 8.1 |
| 6(1846 apparition) | |
C/1846 J1 (Brorsen) is along period comet discovered byTheodor Brorsen on 1 May 1846. It is the parent body of the weakmeteor shower December sigma Virginids.
The comet was discovered on May 1, 1846, byTheodor Brorsen. He described it as a large round nebulosity without tail. An independent discovery was done later the same day byMoritz Ludwig George Wichmann. The comet upon discovery was near the border of the constellationsPegasus andVulpecula. The comet approached Earth at a distance of 0.302 astronomical units (45,200,000 km; 28,100,000 mi) on May 6.[3]
The comet was observed withnaked eye on 13 May, after the Moon had set, and continued to be visible until 20 May. A faint tail was observed. Due to slow communications,George Phillips Bond discovered the comet on May 20 unaware of the previous discoveries. In June the comet became progressively harder to observe as thesolar elongation became smaller. It was last observed on June 15, located low near the horizon.[3]
The orbit of the comet has a striking similarity with the orbit of the weak December sigma Virginids (#428) meteor shower, which peaks on 20–22 December, but seems to be active from December 1 to January 10. The shower seems to be the same as the epsilon Virginids (#513). The peakzenithal hourly rate is about 1.5 for visual meteors.[4][5][6]
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