C/1978 G2 McNaught
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Comet C/1978 G2 was discovered on 12 April 1978, more than four months before its perihelion passage, and was last seen on 23 January 1980 [Kronk and Meyer, Cometography: Volume 5].
The comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 29 April 1978 (5.38 au), that was 17 days after its discovery.
Solution given here is based on data spanning over 1.78 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 6.35 au – 6.28 au (perihelion) – 7.20 au, however only seven measurements are known for this comet.
This probable Oort spike comet suffers rather small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system.
See also Królikowska 2014 and Królikowska and Dybczyński 2017.
The comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 29 April 1978 (5.38 au), that was 17 days after its discovery.
Solution given here is based on data spanning over 1.78 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 6.35 au – 6.28 au (perihelion) – 7.20 au, however only seven measurements are known for this comet.
This probable Oort spike comet suffers rather small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system.
See also Królikowska 2014 and Królikowska and Dybczyński 2017.
| solution description | ||
|---|---|---|
| number of observations | 7 | |
| data interval | 1978 04 12 – 1980 01 23 | |
| data type | perihelion within the observation arc (FULL) | |
| data arc selection | entire data set (STD) | |
| range of heliocentric distances | 6.35 au – 6.28 au (perihelion) – 7.2 au | |
| detectability of NG effects in the comet's motion | NG effects not determinable | |
| type of model of motion | GR - gravitational orbit | |
| data weighting | NO | |
| number of residuals | 14 | |
| RMS [arcseconds] | 0.82 | |
| orbit quality class | 1b | |
| orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Epoch | 1978 09 09 | |
| perihelion date | 1978 08 24.54007600 | ± 0.02745500 |
| perihelion distance [au] | 6.28283701 | ± 0.00026742 |
| eccentricity | 1.00213685 | ± 0.00023866 |
| argument of perihelion [°] | 229.509423 | ± 0.002489 |
| ascending node [°] | 72.215982 | ± 0.000451 |
| inclination [°] | 153.182919 | ± 0.00023 |
| reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] | -340.11 | ± 37.94 |
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.