C/2003 G1 LINEAR

Solar System
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Planetology
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C/2003 G1 LINEAR

General description

C/2003 G1 was discovered on 8 April 2003 by the LINEAR as an apparently asteroidal object. In the next two days its cometary apperance was reported by many observers [IAUC 8115, 2003 April 10].

This comet made its closest approach to Earth on 31 May 2003 (4.103 au), almost four months after perihelion.

Solution given below is based on data span over 1.5 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 4.94 au to 6.77 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 C2003G1A2-001

Comet C/2003 G1 LINEAR

number of observations	1484
number of residuals	2939
data interval	2003 Apr. 8 — 2004 Oct. 14
rms [arcsec]	0.54
orbit quality class	1a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	20030210.0	= JD 2452680.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20030203.652081	± 0.000638
perihelion distance	4.91629490	± 0.00000352
eccentricity	1.00125341	± 0.00000313
argument of perihelion [deg]	11.421359	± 0.000093
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	246.091987	± 0.000010
inclination [deg]	66.855788	± 0.000017
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-254.95	± 0.64

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/2003 G1. 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)	16971120
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20030204.386002	± 0.000633
perihelion distance	4.92065682	± 0.00000353
eccentricity	0.99993277	± 0.00000313
argument of perihelion [deg]	11.459666	± 0.000092
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	246.149796	± 0.000010
inclination [deg]	66.833236	± 0.000017
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	13.66	± 0.64

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)	23031105
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20030204.318059	± 0.000634
perihelion distance	4.92097111	± 0.00000351
eccentricity	1.00183398	± 0.00000313
argument of perihelion [deg]	11.495253	± 0.000092
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	246.108010	± 0.000010
inclination [deg]	66.818784	± 0.000017
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-372.69	± 0.64