C/2008 C1 Chen-Gao
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Comet C/2008 C1 was discovered on 1 February 2008 by Tao Chen (Suzhou City, Jiangsu province, China) and Xing Gao (Urumqi, Xinjiang province, China) at Xingming Observatory (Mt. Nanshan); that is about 2.5 months before its perihelion passage. A few pre-discovery images taken on 30 and 31 January at Xingming Observatory were next found. The comet was observed until 28 May 2008.
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 13 March 2008 (1.301 au), about 1.5 month after its discovery.
Solutions given here are based on data spanning over 0.323 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 1.71 au – 1.262 au (perihelion) – 1.41 au. The non-gravitational solution was chosen as preferred orbit; however, uncertainties of NG parameters are large.
This comet suffers moderate planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system; these perturbations lead to more tight future orbit (see future barycentric orbits).
See also Królikowska and Dybczyński 2013 and Królikowska 2020.

solution description
number of observations 802
data interval 2008 01 30 – 2008 05 28
data type almost all measurements before perihelion (PRE++)
data arc selection entire data set (STD)
range of heliocentric distances 1.71 au – 1.26 au (perihelion) – 1.41 au
detectability of NG effects in the comet's motion comet with determinable NG~orbit
type of model of motion GR - gravitational orbit
data weighting YES
number of residuals 1544
RMS [arcseconds] 0.36
orbit quality class 2a
orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 2008 04 04
perihelion date 2008 04 16.85046143 ± 0.00031603
perihelion distance [au] 1.26235105 ± 0.00000365
eccentricity 1.00001636 ± 0.00001468
argument of perihelion [°] 180.927721 ± 0.000308
ascending node [°] 307.782182 ± 0.000150
inclination [°] 61.784754 ± 0.000068
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] -12.96 ± 11.63
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.