C/1996 E1 NEAT
more info
Comet C/1996 E1 was discovered on 15 March 1996 by Near-Earth-Asteroid Tracking Team (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), that is about 4.5 months before its perihelion passage.This comet was last observed in the mid-October 1996.
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 25 September 1996 (1.168 au), about 2 months after its perihelion passage.
This is a comet with nongravitational effects strongly manifested in positional data fitting.
Solutions given here are based on data spanning over 0.578 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 2.31 au – 1.36 au (perihelion) – 1.76 au.
This Oort spike comet suffers rather moderate planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system; these perturbations lead to a more tight future orbit.
See also Królikowska 2014 and Królikowska 2020.

solution description
number of observations 249
data interval 1996 03 15 – 1996 10 12
data type significantly more measurements before perihelion (PRE+)
data arc selection entire data set (STD)
range of heliocentric distances 2.31 au – 1.36 au (perihelion) – 1.76 au
type of model of motion NS - non-gravitational orbits for standard g(r)
data weighting YES
number of residuals 492
RMS [arcseconds] 0.60
orbit quality class 1b
next orbit statistics, both Galactic and stellar perturbations were taken into account
no. of returning VCs in the swarm 5001 *
no. of escaping VCs in the swarm 0
no. of hyperbolas among escaping VCs in the swarm 0
next reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] 361.90 – 368.84 – 375.84
next perihelion distance [au] 1.34653 – 1.34659 – 1.34665
next aphelion distance [103 au] 5.32 – 5.42 – 5.53
time interval to next perihelion [Myr] 0.137 – 0.141 – 0.145
percentage of VCs with qnext < 10100
Upper panel: 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.
Lower panel (panels): O-C diagram for this(two) solution (solutions) given in this database, where residuals in right ascension are shown using magenta dots and in declination by blue open circles.
next orbit statistics, here only the Galactic tide has been included
no. of returning VCs in the swarm 5001 *
no. of escaping VCs in the swarm 0
no. of hyperbolas among escaping VCs in the swarm 0
next reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] 361.89 – 368.84 – 375.83
next perihelion distance [au] 1.34455 – 1.3446 – 1.34465
next aphelion distance [103 au] 5.32 – 5.42 – 5.53
time interval to next perihelion [Myr] 0.137 – 0.141 – 0.145
percentage of VCs with qnext < 10100