C/2013 P3 Palomar
more info
Comet C/2013 P3 was discovered on 9 August 2013 with Palomar Transient Factory survey, that is about 1.3 yr before its perihelion passage. Next, it was found on images taken the day before discovery during the same survey. This comet was observed until 24 June 2018.
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 21 September 2014 (7.657 au), about 2 months before perihelion passage.
Solution given here is based on data spanning over 4.88 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 9.070 au – 8.647 au (perihelion) – 11.42 au.
This Oort spike comet suffers so tiny planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that its semimajor axis will be almost unchanged after leaving the planetary zone.< br>
solution description
number of observations 494
data interval 2013 08 08 – 2018 06 24
data type perihelion within the observation arc (FULL)
data arc selection entire data set (STD)
range of heliocentric distances 9.07 au – 8.65 au (perihelion) – 11.4 au
detectability of NG effects in the comet's motion NG effects not determinable
type of model of motion GR - gravitational orbit
data weighting YES
number of residuals 980
RMS [arcseconds] 0.29
orbit quality class 1a+
orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 2014 12 09
perihelion date 2014 11 23.83010403 ± 0.00131250
perihelion distance [au] 8.64655475 ± 0.00000705
eccentricity 1.00121879 ± 0.00000584
argument of perihelion [°] 177.183654 ± 0.000068
ascending node [°] 177.275460 ± 0.000005
inclination [°] 93.910232 ± 0.000013
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] -140.96 ± 0.67
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.