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Periodic comet with 8 year orbit From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
14P/Wolf is a periodic comet in the Solar System.
Comet 14P/Wolf on 17 September 2000 by Hubble Space Telescope | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Max Wolf |
| Discovery date | September 17, 1884 |
| Designations | |
| 1884 S1; 1884 III; 1884c; 1891 J1; 1891 II; 1891b; 1898 IV; 1898f; 1912 I; 1911a; 1918 V; 1918b; 1925 X; 1925e; 1934 I; 1933e; 1942 VI; 1950 VI; 1950c; 1959 II; 1958c; 1967 XII; 1967j; 1976 II; 1975f; 1984 IX; 1983m; 1992 XXII; 1992m | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | December 2, 2000 (JD 2451880.5) |
| Aphelion | 5.73 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.72 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 4.07 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.407 |
| Orbital period | 8.74 a |
| Inclination | 27.52° |
| Last perihelion | December 1, 2017 |
| Next perihelion | 2026-Sept-19[1] |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 4.7 km[2] |
| Perihelion distance at different epochs[3] | |||||||
| Epoch | Perihelion (AU) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1869 | 2.74 | ||||||
| 1878 | 1.57 | ||||||
| 1925 | 2.44 | ||||||
| 2009 | 2.72 | ||||||
| 2044 | 2.44 | ||||||
| 2068 | 2.62 | ||||||
Max Wolf (Heidelberg, Germany) discovered the comet on September 17, 1884 (15 days) before it passed 0.8 AU from Earth. It was later rediscovered by, but not credited to, Ralph Copeland (Dun Echt Observatory, Aberdeen, Scotland) on September 23.[citation needed]
Before approaching Jupiter in 1875, the comet had a perihelion of 2.74 AU and an orbital period of 8.84 years, and the approach dropped perihelion to 1.57 AU.[3] An approach to Jupiter in September 1922 lifted perihelion to 2.43 AU. The current perihelion of 2.7 AU is from when the comet passed Jupiter on August 13, 2005. Another close approach to Jupiter on March 10, 2041 will return the comet to parameters similar to the period 1925–2000.[4]
The comet nucleus is estimated to be 4.7 kilometers in diameter.[2] Its rotational period is estimated to be 9.02 ± 0.01 hours.[5]
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