C/1979 M3 Torres

Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
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C/1979 M3 Torres

General description

Comet C/1979 M3 was discovered on 26 June 1979, 10 days before its perihelion passage, and was last seen on 23 October 1979 [Kronk and Meyer, Cometography: Volume 5]; later few prediscovery measurements going back up to 23 August 1978 were found, that is 11 months before its perihelion passage (see figure).

The comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 14 July 1979 (3.69 au), that was almost exactly at the moment of perihelion passage.

Solution given below is based on data span over 1.17 yr in the range of heliocentric distances: 5.34 au – 4.69 au (perihelion) – 4.75 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 C1979M3A1-001

Comet C/1979 M3 Torres

number of observations	34
number of residuals	64
data interval	1978 Aug. 23 — 1979 Oct. 23
rms [arcsec]	1.34
orbit quality class	1b

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	19790726.0	= JD 2444080.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19790715.404937	± 0.011173
perihelion distance	4.68691254	± 0.00004288
eccentricity	1.00106133	± 0.00006640
argument of perihelion [deg]	10.101298	± 0.001499
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	293.136635	± 0.000082
inclination [deg]	92.178173	± 0.000337
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-226.44	± 14.16

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/1979 M3. 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)	16740614
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19790715.600960	± 0.011067
perihelion distance	4.69146981	± 0.00004325
eccentricity	0.99980792	± 0.00006821
argument of perihelion [deg]	10.141099	± 0.001486
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	293.185694	± 0.000083
inclination [deg]	92.150900	± 0.000337
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	40.94	± 14.54

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)	22820627
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19790715.830345	± 0.011056
perihelion distance	4.69259184	± 0.00004319
eccentricity	1.00068015	± 0.00006823
argument of perihelion [deg]	10.170728	± 0.001486
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	293.148018	± 0.000083
inclination [deg]	92.100795	± 0.000337
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-144.94	± 14.54