C/1894 G1 (Gale)
Comet Gale (1894 II) photographed by Edward E. Barnard from the Lick Observatory on 5 May 1894 | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Walter F. Gale |
| Discovery site | Sydney, Australia |
| Discovery date | 1 April 1894 |
| Designations | |
| 1894 II, 1894b[2] | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch | 4 June 1894 (JD 2412983.5) |
| Observation arc | 82 days |
| Number of observations | 45 |
| Aphelion | 176.85 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.983 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 88.914 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.98298 |
| Orbital period | 838.42 years |
| Inclination | 86.959° |
| 207.89° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 324.17° |
| Mean anomaly | 0.060° |
| Last perihelion | 13 April 1894 |
| TJupiter | 0.124 |
| Earth MOID | 0.076 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 1.230 AU |
| Physical characteristics[4] | |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 6.3 |
| 3.0 (1894 apparition) | |
C/1894 G1 (Gale), also known formerly as 1894 II, is a long-period comet that became barely visible to the naked eye in May 1894. It is the first of three comets discovered by Australian astronomer Walter Frederick Gale.
Possible meteor shower
The comet's small minimum orbit intersection distance with Earth (0.076 AU) led scientists in 2021 to suggest that C/1894 G1 might potentially be the progenitor of a meteor shower known as the December Iota Ursae Majorids, however no definite link has yet been found between that particular shower and the comet.[5]
References
- ^ W. F. Gale (1894). "Beobachtungen des Cometen 1894… (Gale April 3)". Astronomische Nachrichten (in German). 135 (8): 149–150. doi:10.1002/asna.18941350805.
- ^ "Comet Names and Designations". International Comet Quarterly. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ "C/1894 G1 (Gale) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ G. W. Kronk (2003). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 2: 1800–1899. Cambridge University Press. pp. 717–722. ISBN 978-0-521-58505-7.
- ^ M. Hajduková; L. Neslušan (2021). "Modeling the Meteoroid Streams of comets C/1894 G1 (Gale) and C/1936 O1 (Kaho–Kozik–Lis)". Planetary and Space Science. Bibcode:2021P&SS..19505152H. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2020.105152.
External links
- C/1894 G1 at the JPL Small-Body Database