C/2007 Q3 Siding Spring
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Comet C/2007 Q3 was discovered on 25 August 2007 with Siding Spring survey; that is a bit more than 2 years before its perihelion passage. It was observed until 3 September 2011 (see picture).
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 2 February 2010 (2.193 au), about 4 months after its perihelion passage.
C/2007 Q3 is a comet with non-gravitational effects strongly manifested in positional data fitting. Preferred (non-gravitational) solution given here is based on data spanning over 4.02 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 7.64 au – 2.252 au (perihelion) – 7.07 au. However, it was difficult to indicate the preferred model for this comet. Therefore, we show also second global non-gravitational solution based on g(r)-like function dedicated to CO (dc solution based on data taken at large heliocentric distances). In addition, there are two further solutions: NG orbit for pre-perihelion arc of data (g(r)-like function consistent with CO) dedicated for past orbital evolution, and a pure gravitational orbit based on post-perihelion data taken at heliocentric distances starting from 3.5 au and dedicated to future evolution. From the dynamical perspective, all these solutions give a fairly precise range of original 1/a values from 28 to 41 in units of 10-6 au-1. The solution given in the Nakano Notes (NG orbit) is also placed inside this range of original 1/a, but the MPC solution (GR orbit) results in a slightly lower value of original 1/a.
This Oort spike comet suffers rather large planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system and these perturbations lead to more tight future orbit (see future barycentric orbits).
See also Królikowska and Dybczyński 2013 and Królikowska 2020.
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 2 February 2010 (2.193 au), about 4 months after its perihelion passage.
C/2007 Q3 is a comet with non-gravitational effects strongly manifested in positional data fitting. Preferred (non-gravitational) solution given here is based on data spanning over 4.02 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 7.64 au – 2.252 au (perihelion) – 7.07 au. However, it was difficult to indicate the preferred model for this comet. Therefore, we show also second global non-gravitational solution based on g(r)-like function dedicated to CO (dc solution based on data taken at large heliocentric distances). In addition, there are two further solutions: NG orbit for pre-perihelion arc of data (g(r)-like function consistent with CO) dedicated for past orbital evolution, and a pure gravitational orbit based on post-perihelion data taken at heliocentric distances starting from 3.5 au and dedicated to future evolution. From the dynamical perspective, all these solutions give a fairly precise range of original 1/a values from 28 to 41 in units of 10-6 au-1. The solution given in the Nakano Notes (NG orbit) is also placed inside this range of original 1/a, but the MPC solution (GR orbit) results in a slightly lower value of original 1/a.
This Oort spike comet suffers rather large planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system and these perturbations lead to more tight future orbit (see future barycentric orbits).
See also Królikowska and Dybczyński 2013 and Królikowska 2020.
| solution description | ||
|---|---|---|
| number of observations | 565 | |
| data interval | 2007 08 25 – 2009 10 03 | |
| data arc selection | data generally limited to pre-perihelion (PRE) | |
| range of heliocentric distances | 7.64 au – 2.25au | |
| detectability of NG effects in the comet's motion | comet with NG effects strongly manifested in positional data fitting | |
| type of model of motion | GR - gravitational orbit | |
| data weighting | YES | |
| number of residuals | 1112 | |
| RMS [arcseconds] | 0.30 | |
| 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] | 38.46 – 38.90 – 39.34 | |
| previous perihelion distance [au] | 585 – 626 – 666 | |
| previous aphelion distance [103 au] | 50.3 – 50.8 – 51.3 | |
| time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] | 3.5 – 3.58 – 3.66 | |
| percentage of VCs with qprev > 20 | 100 | |
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] | 41.25 – 41.91 – 42.60 | |
| previous perihelion distance [au] | 9.17 – 9.73 – 10.3 | |
| previous aphelion distance [103 au] | 46.9 – 47.7 – 48.5 | |
| time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] | 3.56 – 3.65 – 3.73 | |
| percentage of VCs with qprev < 10 | 72 | |
| percentage of VCs with 10 < qprev < 20 | 28 | |