C/1972 L1 Sandage
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Comet C/1972 L1 was discovered on 9 June 1972, about five months before perihelion passage, and was last seen on 10 November 1974 [Kronk and Meyer, Cometography: Volume 5], however in 1974 only a few positional measurements were taken (see picture).
This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 16 May 1972 (3.682 au), 24 days before discovery.
Solution given here is based on data spanning over 2.36 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 4.47 au – 4.276 au (perihelion) – 7.01 au.
This Oort spike comet suffers moderate planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to escape the comet from the planetary zone on a hyperbolic orbit (see future barycentric orbit).
See also Królikowska 2014 and Królikowska and Dybczyński 2017.
This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 16 May 1972 (3.682 au), 24 days before discovery.
Solution given here is based on data spanning over 2.36 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 4.47 au – 4.276 au (perihelion) – 7.01 au.
This Oort spike comet suffers moderate planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to escape the comet from the planetary zone on a hyperbolic orbit (see future barycentric orbit).
See also Królikowska 2014 and Królikowska and Dybczyński 2017.
| solution description | ||
|---|---|---|
| number of observations | 150 | |
| data interval | 1972 06 09 – 1974 10 19 | |
| data type | perihelion within the observation arc (FULL) | |
| data arc selection | entire data set (STD) | |
| range of heliocentric distances | 4.47 au – 4.28 au (perihelion) – 7.01 au | |
| detectability of NG effects in the comet's motion | NG effects not determinable | |
| type of model of motion | GR - gravitational orbit | |
| data weighting | YES | |
| number of residuals | 296 | |
| RMS [arcseconds] | 1.40 | |
| orbit quality class | 1a | |
| previous orbit statistics, both Galactic and stellar perturbations were taken into account | ||
|---|---|---|
| no. of returning VCs in the swarm | 5001 | * |
| no. of escaping VCs in the swarm | 0 | |
| no. of hyperbolas among escaping VCs in the swarm | 0 | |
| previous reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] | 33.80 – 39.96 – 58.99 | |
| previous perihelion distance [au] | 4 – 46 – 230 | |
| previous aphelion distance [103 au] | 34 – 50 – 58 | |
| time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] | 2.2 – 2.7 – 3.4 | |
| percentage of VCs with qprev < 10 | 35 | |
| percentage of VCs with 10 < qprev < 20 | 4 | |
| percentage of VCs with qprev > 20 | 61 | |
Time distribution of positional observations with corresponding heliocentric (red curve) and geocentric (green curve) distance at which they were taken. The horizontal dotted line shows the perihelion distance for a given comet whereas vertical dotted line — the moment of perihelion passage.
| previous orbit statistics, here only the Galactic tide has been included | ||
|---|---|---|
| no. of returning VCs in the swarm | 5001 | * |
| no. of escaping VCs in the swarm | 0 | |
| no. of hyperbolas among escaping VCs in the swarm | 0 | |
| previous reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] | 43.02 – 51.24 – 58.96 | |
| previous perihelion distance [au] | 4.15 – 4.34 – 5.46 | |
| previous aphelion distance [103 au] | 34 – 39 – 46 | |
| time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] | 2.2 – 2.7 – 3.5 | |
| percentage of VCs with qprev < 10 | 99 | |
| percentage of VCs with 10 < qprev < 20 | 1 | |