C/2004 T3 Siding Spring
more info
C/2004 T3 was discovered by Robert H. McNaught on images from the Siding Spring 0.5m Uppsala Schmidt on 12 October 2004. Next days, its cometary apperance was confirmed by observers [IAUC 8421, 2004 October 21]. At the moment of discovery, it was 1.5 yr after its perihelion passage (see figure).
This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 19 July 2003 (8.611 au), three months after perihelion.
Solution given here is based on data spanning over 1.3 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 9.40 au to 10.6 au.
This Oort spike comet suffers slight planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system.
See also Królikowska 2014 and Królikowska and Dybczyński 2017.

solution description
number of observations 109
data interval 2004 10 12 – 2006 01 31
data type observed only after perihelion (POST)
data arc selection entire data set (STD)
range of heliocentric distances 9.4 au – 10.6au
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 209
RMS [arcseconds] 0.44
orbit quality class 1a
orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 2003 05 01
perihelion date 2003 04 15.23457200 ± 0.02476300
perihelion distance [au] 8.86450665 ± 0.00008577
eccentricity 0.99749028 ± 0.00003702
argument of perihelion [°] 259.677146 ± 0.001656
ascending node [°] 50.392989 ± 0.000134
inclination [°] 71.959969 ± 0.00005
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] 283.12 ± 4.17
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.