C/1976 D2 Shuster

Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group

C/1976 D2 Shuster

General description

Comet C/1976 D2 was discovered on 25 February 1976, 1.1 yr after perihelion passage, and was last seen on 7 April 1978 [Kronk and Meyer, Cometography: Volume 5].

The comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 3 April 1975 (5.957 au), eleven months before discovery (2.6 months after perihelion passage), and at the moment of discovery it was approaching the next opposition (minimal distance of 6.70 au to the Earth).

Solution given below is based on data span over 2.11 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 7.37 au to 10.13 au.

Comet suffered insignificant planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system (see below original and future orbits).

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 C1976D2A1-001

Comet C/1976 D2 Shuster

number of observations	57
number of residuals	111
data interval	1976 Feb. 25 — 1978 Apr. 7
rms [arcsec]	1.00
orbit quality class	1a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	19750128.0	= JD 2442440.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19750115.546664	± 0.013003
perihelion distance	6.88076913	± 0.00009833
eccentricity	1.00210991	± 0.00005133
argument of perihelion [deg]	193.427853	± 0.001429
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	22.786964	± 0.000179
inclination [deg]	112.025871	± 0.000136
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-306.64	± 7.46

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/1976 D2. Each density map is given in logarithmic scale presented on the right in the individual panel.
The same figure in the new window

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

Epoch (TT)	16660107
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19750115.346261	± 0.013214
perihelion distance	6.88171236	± 0.00010043
eccentricity	0.99960808	± 0.00005032
argument of perihelion [deg]	193.436940	± 0.001461
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	22.762585	± 0.000180
inclination [deg]	111.987797	± 0.000138
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	56.95	± 7.31

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)	22840108
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19750115.363704	± 0.013254
perihelion distance	6.88351258	± 0.00010053
eccentricity	0.99962729	± 0.00005033
argument of perihelion [deg]	193.402971	± 0.001460
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	22.777758	± 0.000180
inclination [deg]	111.985520	± 0.000138
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	54.15	± 7.31