C/1999 F1 Catalina
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Comet C/1999 F1 was discovered on 23 March 1999 by the Catalina Sky Survey, 2.9 yr before perihelion passage. In April, orbit determination by B.G. Marsden showed that the object was a long-period comet moving on a hightly-inclined orbit, and allowed to find the pre-discovery observations in Spacewatch data [IAUC 7148, 1999 April 20].

This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 13 April 2001 (5.534 au), ten months before perihelion.

Solutions given here are based on data spanning over 6.5 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 9.28 au – 5.787 au (perihelion) – 10.4 au.

This Oort spike comets suffered almost insignificant planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system.

See also Królikowska and Dones 2023, Królikowska and Dybczyński 2017,and Królikowska 2014.
solution description
number of observations 56
data interval 2002 09 28 – 2005 08 28
data arc selection data generally limited to post-perihelion (POS)
range of heliocentric distances 6.01 au – 10.39au
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 111
RMS [arcseconds] 0.67
orbit quality class 1a
orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 2002 02 15
perihelion date 2002 02 13.75586537 ± 0.00574008
perihelion distance [au] 5.78698304 ± 0.00004112
eccentricity 0.99887808 ± 0.00002193
argument of perihelion [°] 255.167363 ± 0.000644
ascending node [°] 20.012804 ± 0.000062
inclination [°] 92.029671 ± 0.000058
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] 193.87 ± 3.79
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.
Middle panel(s): O-C diagram for a given solution (sometimes in comparison to another solution available in CODE), where residuals in right ascension are shown using magenta dots and in declination by blue open circles.
Lowest panel: Relative weights for a given data set(s).