Comet McNaught
Non-periodic comet / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Comet McNaught, also known as the Great Comet of 2007 and given the designation C/2006 P1, is a non-periodic comet discovered on 7 August 2006 by British-Australian astronomer Robert H. McNaught using the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope.[5] It was the brightest comet in over 40 years, and was easily visible to the naked eye for observers in the Southern Hemisphere in January and February 2007.
Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovery date | 7 August 2006 |
Designations | |
C/2006 P1, Comet McNaught, Great Comet of 2007 | |
Orbital characteristics | |
Epoch | 2454113.2961 (20 January 2007) |
Observation arc | 338 days |
Number of observations | 331 |
Orbit type | Oort cloud |
Aphelion | ~67,000 AU (inbound)[1] ~4,100 AU (outbound)[a] |
Perihelion | 0.1707 AU (25,540,000 km) |
Semi-major axis | ~33,000 AU (inbound) ~2,000 AU (outbound)[a] |
Eccentricity | 1.000019[2] (hyperbolic trajectory) |
Orbital period | ~6 million years (inbound)[1] ~92,600 yr (outbound)[3][a] |
Max. orbital speed | 101.9 km/s (228,000 mph)[4] |
Inclination | 77.82768004° |
Last perihelion | 12 January 2007[2] |
Jupiter MOID | 0.32 AU |
With an estimated peak magnitude of −5.5, the comet was the second-brightest since 1935.[6] Around perihelion on 12 January, it was visible worldwide in broad daylight. Its tail measured an estimated 35 degrees in length at its peak.[7]
The brightness of C/2006 P1 near perihelion was enhanced by forward scattering.[8]