D/1895 Q1 (Swift) is one of 13 comets discovered by American astronomer, Lewis A. Swift. A Jupiter-family comet, it was last seen in February 1896 and was not observed since.[1]
Possible encounter with Mariner 4
On September 15, 1967, the Mariner 4 spacecraft encountered a dense "meteor storm" that is more intense than anything seen from Earth for 45 minutes, which may have damaged bits of insulation and temporarily changed the attitude of the spacecraft.[5][6] What caused it remained a mystery until in 2006, astronomer Paul Wiegert examined old comet data and found that Mariner 4 would have been 20 million km (12 million mi) from the possibly shattered nucleus of D/1895 Q1 (Swift).[1] However, Wiegert noted that the comet's orbit during its 1895 apparition wasn't precisely known, leading to a large potential error in the comet's expected location in 1967.
See also
References
- ^ a b c G. W. Kronk. "D/1895 Q1 (Swift)". Cometography.com. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ "D/1895 Q1 (Swift) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ S. Yoshida (11 March 2019). "D/1895 Q1 ( Swift )". Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ E. Frisby; G. A. Hill (1895). "Observations of comet 1895a". Astronomical Journal. 15 (357): 174–175. Bibcode:1895AJ.....15..174F. doi:10.1086/102311.
- ^ T. Phillips (23 August 2006). "Mariner Meteor Mystery, Solved?". science.nasa.gov. NASA. Archived from the original on 6 April 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
- ^ T. Phillips (24 August 2006). "Has the Mariner Meteor Mystery Been Solved". Mars Daily. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
External links
- D/1895 Q1 at the JPL Small-Body Database
You must be logged in to post a comment.