C/1902 G1 (Brooks)

For other comets discovered by William R. Brooks, see Comet Brooks.

C/1902 G1 (Brooks)
Drawing of the comet C/1902 G1 by its discoverer, William Robert Brooks, on 15 April 1902.[1]
Discovery[1][2]
Discovered byWilliam R. Brooks
Discovery siteSmith Observatory
Discovery date15 April 1902
Designations
1902 I, 1902a[3]
Orbital characteristics[4]
Epoch7 May 1902 (JD 2415877.296)
Observation arc5 days
Number of
observations		9
Perihelion0.444 AU
Eccentricity~1.000
Inclination65.301°
54.033°
Argument of
periapsis		229.621°
Last perihelion7 May 1902
Physical characteristics[6]
Mean radius
0.239 km (0.149 mi)[a]
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		11.7
8.5
(1902 apparition)

Comet Brooks, also known by its modern designation C/1902 G1, is a non-periodic comet that was only observed for five days in April 1902. Bright moonlight conditions and unfavorable weather conditions prevented additional observations of the comet.[7] As a result, orbital calculations for it were not sufficient to obtain a hyperbolic or near-parabolic orbit around the Sun.[6]

Orbit

Despite having a short observation arc of only five days, astronomers were still able to calculate a parabolic trajectory for the comet.[6] S. K. Winther and Robert Grant Aitken used positions recorded between 16–17 April 1902 to create a parabolic trajectory with a perihelion date of 6 May 1902.[7] At the same time, Armin Otto Leuschner and his colleagues calculated that the comet may have a 0.88-year elliptical orbit around the Sun, the shortest of any comet known,[8] where they also noted that it is probably the same object as C/1748 K1 (Klinkenberg),[9] however their calculations were later refuted.[6] Heinrich Kreutz, Elis Strömgren and S. Scharbe revised Aitken's calculations using positions up to 20 April 1902, concluding that the comet must have reached perihelion by 7 May 1902.[6]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Calculated mean radius using the formula: [5]
    Where is the comet's absolute total magnitude (M1)

Citations

  1. ^ a b W. R. Brooks (1902). "Discovery of Comet Brooks, 1902". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 62 (7): 527. Bibcode:1902MNRAS..62..524B. doi:10.1093/mnras/62.7.524.
  2. ^ W. R. Brooks (16 April 1902). E. C. Pickering (ed.). "Brooks's Comet 1902". Harvard College Bulletin. 98. Bibcode:1902BHarO..98....1P.
  3. ^ "Comet Names and Designations". International Comet Quarterly. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
  4. ^ "C/1902 G1 (Brooks) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
  5. ^ J. A. Fernández; A. Sosa (2012). "Magnitude and size distribution of long-period comets in Earth-crossing or approaching orbits". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 423 (2): 1674–1690. arXiv:1204.2285. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20989.x.
  6. ^ a b c d e G. W. Kronk (2007). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 3: 1900–1932. Cambridge University Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-0-521-58506-4.
  7. ^ a b R. G. Aitken; W. H. Hussey (1902). "Note on Comet Brooks" (PDF). Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 14 (84): 111–112. JSTOR 40668247.
  8. ^ A. O. Leuschner (2 May 1902). E. C. Pickering (ed.). "Brooks's Comet 1902". Harvard College Bulletin. 103. Bibcode:1902BHarO.103....1P.
  9. ^ "ORBIT OF THE BROOKS COMET: Believed to be Identical with That of Second Comet of 1748". The New York Times. 4 May 1902. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.