C/1974 V1 van den Bergh

Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group

General description

Comet C/1974 V1 was discovered on 11 November 1974, 3.2 months after perihelion passage, and was last seen on 31 October 1976 [Kronk and Meyer, Cometography: Volume 5].

The comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 28 October 1974 (5.11 au), two weeks before discovery.

Solution given below is based on data span over 1.97 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 6.06 au to 8.19 au.

Figure caption: 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.

SSDP Cometary Note C1974V1A1-001

Comet C/1974 V1 van den Bergh

number of observations	46
number of residuals	92
data interval	1974 Nov. 12 — 1976 Oct. 31
rms [arcsec]	1.16
orbit quality class	1b

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	19740821.0	= JD 2442280.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19740807.763518	± 0.018901
perihelion distance	6.01885058	± 0.00009141
eccentricity	1.00391195	± 0.00007181
argument of perihelion [deg]	151.758534	± 0.001823
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	226.104055	± 0.000069
inclination [deg]	60.853679	± 0.000200
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-649.95	± 11.91

Note: Epoch is given in a format: yyyymmdd.d, time of perihelion passage in a format of yyyymmdd.dddddd.

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of original swarm (5001 VCs) of C/1974 V1. Each density map is given in logarithmic scale presented on the right in the individual panel.
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Original orbital elements (barycentric; at 250 au from the Sun)

Epoch (TT)	16670721
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19740808.164070	± 0.019246
perihelion distance	6.01579264	± 0.00009240
eccentricity	0.99989464	± 0.00007279
argument of perihelion [deg]	151.829672	± 0.001856
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	226.121112	± 0.000068
inclination [deg]	60.878468	± 0.000198
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	17.51	± 12.10

Note: Values of uncertainties of original/future orbital elements were derived using a swarm of 5001 osculating orbits of VCs (including the nominal osculating orbit given above) for original/future orbital evolution calclulations and then by fitting the distribution of a given orbital element of original/future swarm of VCs to Gaussian distribution.

Original barycentric positions and velocities of 5001 VCs at 250 au from the Sun are given here (data format), i.e. before entering the planetary zone.

Future orbital elements (barycentric; at 250 au from the Sun)

Epoch (TT)	22880705
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19740806.921353	± 0.019374
perihelion distance	6.01222855	± 0.00009311
eccentricity	0.99654636	± 0.00007283
argument of perihelion [deg]	151.677213	± 0.001868
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	226.099858	± 0.000068
inclination [deg]	60.909106	± 0.000199
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	574.44	± 12.12