57P/du Toit–Neujmin–Delporte

For other comets of the same name, see Comet du Toit and Comet Neujmin.

57P/du Toit–Neujmin–Delporte
Infrared image of Comet du Toit–Neujmin–Delporte taken by NEOWISE on 13 June 2015
Discovery
Discovered by
Discovery date18 July 1941
Designations
  • P/1941 O1, P/1941 OE
  • P/1970 N2, P/1983 RD6
  • 1941 VII, 1970 XIII
  • 1983 IX, 1989 XIV
  • 1941e, 1970i, 1983g
  • 1989l
Orbital characteristics[2][3]
Epoch21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5)
Observation arc81.55 years
Number of
observations		2,146
Aphelion5.166 AU
Perihelion1.714 AU
Semi-major axis3.440 AU
Eccentricity0.50175
Orbital period6.381 years
Inclination2.854°
188.71°
Argument of
periapsis		115.05°
Mean anomaly231.15°
Last perihelion17 October 2021
Next perihelion3 March 2028[1]
TJupiter2.917
Earth MOID0.714 AU
Jupiter MOID0.299 AU
Physical characteristics
Mean radius
0.78 km (0.48 mi) (A)[4]
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		8.5

57P/du Toit–Neujmin–Delporte is the designation of a periodic comet. It is a member of the Jupiter family of comets whose orbits and evolution are strongly influenced by the giant planet.[5] In 2002, it was discovered to have broken up into at least 20 fragments.[6] At the time of their discovery, these shed fragments were spread out along the orbital path subtending an angle of 27 arcminutes from the comet's surviving head.[7]

Discovery

The comet has many co-discoverers and a complicated discovery history due to unreliable communications during World War II. Daniel du Toit discovered the comet (retrospectively designated as P/1941 O1) on July 18, 1941, working at Boyden Station, South Africa. His cabled message about the comet did not reach his employer, Harvard College Observatory, until July 27. During a routine asteroid search, Grigory N. Neujmin (Simeis Observatory, Soviet Union) found the comet on a photographic plate exposed on 25 July. He confirmed his own observation on 29 July, but the radiogram from Moscow took 20 days to reach Harvard. The official announcement of the new comet finally happened on August 20, 1941. A few days later, it became known that Eugène Joseph Delporte at the Royal Observatory in Belgium, also had found the comet on 19 August, so he was added to the list of discoverers.

A few weeks later, news from Paul Ahnert at Sonneberg, Thuringia, Germany, reached Harvard that he also observed the new comet on July 22, but it was too late to recognize his contribution.

Fragment A was last observed in 2002.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Horizons Batch for 57P/duToit-Neujmin-Delporte (90000632) on 2028-Mar-03" (Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2023. (JPL#K213/30 Soln.date: 2023-Apr-28)
  2. ^ "57P/du Toit–Neujmin–Delporte – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  3. ^ "57P/du Toit–Neujmin–Delporte Orbit". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  4. ^ Y. R. Fernández; M. S. P. Kelley; P. L. Lamy; et al. (2013). "Thermal properties, sizes, and size distribution of Jupiter-family cometary nuclei". Icarus. 226 (1): 1138–1170. arXiv:1307.6191. Bibcode:2013Icar..226.1138F. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2013.07.021.
  5. ^ J. A. Fernandez; G. Tancredi; H. Rickman; J. Licandro (1999). "The population, magnitudes, and sizes of Jupiter family comets". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 352: 327–340. Bibcode:1999A&A...352..327F.
  6. ^ D. C. Jewitt; K. Rehbock (25 July 2002). "UH Astronomers Observe Spectacular Split Comet (57P/du Toit–Neujmin–Delporte)". University of Hawaii. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  7. ^ Y. R. Fernandez (2009). "That's the way the comet crumbles: Splitting Jupiter-family comets". Planetary and Space Science. 57 (10): 1218–1227. arXiv:0907.4806. Bibcode:2009P&SS...57.1218F. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2009.01.003. S2CID 15153026.
  8. ^ "57P/duToit-Neujmin-Delporte-A – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 4 July 2020.

Astronomy Pictures of the Day


allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/57P/du_Toit-Neujmin-Delporte