C/2016 U1 (NEOWISE)

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C/2016 U1 (NEOWISE)
Discovery
Discovered byNEOWISE project
Discovery dateFriday 21 October 2016[1]
Orbital characteristics A
Epoch2457723.5 (2016-Dec-01.0) TDB[1] Reference: JPL 4 (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)[1]
Perihelion0.3191 AU[1]
Semi-major axis-3477.5728 AU[1]
Eccentricity1.0001[1]
Inclination46.4292 deg[1]
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		13.7[1]
Comet nuclear
magnitude (M2)		20.0[1]
Last perihelion14 January 2017
Next perihelionejection

C/2016 U1 (NEOWISE) is a hyperbolic comet discovered 21 October 2016 by NEOWISE, the asteroid-and-comet-hunting portion of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission.[1][2][3] The comet may be visible to skywatchers on Earth, at an estimated +6th magnitude (naked eye brightness),[4] during the first week of 2017 and will be closest to the Sun on 14 January 2017.[2][5] It was closest to the Earth on 13 December 2016 at 106,000,000 km (66,000,000 mi)[4] away; it is not considered a threat to Earth.[2]

Orbit of C/2016 U1 (NEOWISE) on 14 January 2017, closest approach to the Sun.[1][3]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Park, Ryan S.; Chamberlin, Alan B. (30 December 2016). "JPL small-body database browser – C/2016 U1 (NEOWISE)". JPL. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Agle, DC; Cantillo, Laurie; Brown, Dwayne (29 December 2016). "NASA's NEOWISE mission spies one comet – maybe two". NASA. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  3. ^ a b Dickinson, David (28 December 2016). "Comet U1 NEOWISE — a possible binocular comet?". Phys.org. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  4. ^ a b MacDonald, Fiona (31 December 2016). "A rare comet is zooming past Earth right now, and you should be able to see it with binoculars". ScienceAlert.com. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  5. ^ Williams, Matt (30 December 2016). "NASA'S NEOWISE mission spots new comets". Universe Today. Retrieved 31 December 2016.

External links[]

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