C/2011 R1 McNaught
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Comet C/2011 R1 was discovered on 3 September 2011 by Robert H. McNaught (Siding Spring), that is more than a year before its perihelion passage. It was observed until 11 April 2014.
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 8 April 2013 (1.960 au), 5.5 months after its perihelion passage; however on 8 August 2012 (2.5 months before perihelion) the comet approached the Earth only a little further (2.035 au, see picture).
Solution given here is based on data spanning over 3.5 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 7.47 au – 2.08 au (perihelion) – 5.91 au.
This Oort spike comet suffers tiny planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that cause a bit tighter future orbit with original semimajor axis of about 10,000 au (see future barycentric orbits).
See also Królikowska 2020.
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 8 April 2013 (1.960 au), 5.5 months after its perihelion passage; however on 8 August 2012 (2.5 months before perihelion) the comet approached the Earth only a little further (2.035 au, see picture).
Solution given here is based on data spanning over 3.5 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 7.47 au – 2.08 au (perihelion) – 5.91 au.
This Oort spike comet suffers tiny planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that cause a bit tighter future orbit with original semimajor axis of about 10,000 au (see future barycentric orbits).
See also Królikowska 2020.
solution description | ||
---|---|---|
number of observations | 1504 | |
data interval | 2010 10 11 – 2014 04 11 | |
data type | perihelion within the observation arc (FULL) | |
data arc selection | entire data set (STD) | |
range of heliocentric distances | 7.47 au – 2.08 au (perihelion) – 5.91 au | |
type of model of motion | NT - non-gravitational orbits for asymmetric, standard g(r) | |
data weighting | YES | |
number of residuals | 2909 | |
RMS [arcseconds] | 0.37 | |
orbit quality class | 1a+ |
previous 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 | |
previous reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] | 44.41 – 45.20 – 45.92 | |
previous perihelion distance [au] | 380 – 440 – 490 | |
previous aphelion distance [103 au] | 43.2 – 43.8 – 44.5 | |
time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] | 3.18 – 3.28 – 3.37 | |
percentage of VCs with qprev > 20 | 100 |

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.
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.
previous_g 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 | |
previous reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] | 44.66 – 45.49 – 46.38 | |
previous perihelion distance [au] | 1.01 – 1.06 – 1.11 | |
previous aphelion distance [103 au] | 43.1 – 44 – 44.8 | |
time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] | 3.16 – 3.26 – 3.35 | |
percentage of VCs with qprev < 10 | 100 |