C/2005 K1 Skiff

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C/2005 K1 Skiff

General description

C/2005 K1 was discovered by B.A. Skiff on 16 May 2005 using the 0.59-m LONEOS Schmidt telescope. Its cometary apperance was soon confirmed [IAUC 8532, 2005 May 20].

This comet made its closest approach to Earth on 27 June 2006 (3.177 au), five months after perihelion.

Solution given below is based on data span over 2.2 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 4.06 au – 3.693 au (perihelion) – 6.42 au.

Comet suffered a very slight planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system, however these perturbations could move out this comet from the solar system (see below).

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 C2005K1N6-001

Comet C/2005 K1 Skiff

number of observations	642
number of residuals	1246
data interval	2005 May 16 — 2007 Aug. 6
rms [arcsec]	0.52
orbit quality class	1a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	20051106.0	= JD 2453680.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20051121.217840	± 0.000908
perihelion distance	3.69287282	± 0.00000357
eccentricity	1.00327669	± 0.00000422
argument of perihelion [deg]	134.943605	± 0.000193
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	106.304986	± 0.000023
inclination [deg]	77.747678	± 0.000012
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-887.30	± 1.14

Nongravitational parameters [10^-8 au/day²]

A₁ = 2515 ± 741

A₂ = 184 ± 762

A₃ = 0 (assumed)

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/2005 K1. 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)	17021205
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20051121.776254	± 0.001340
perihelion distance	3.69197608	± 0.00000503
eccentricity	0.99996944	± 0.00000974
argument of perihelion [deg]	135.026925	± 0.000316
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	106.341220	± 0.000024
inclination [deg]	77.810523	± 0.000012
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	8.28	± 2.64

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)	23071015
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20051121.746277	± 0.001318
perihelion distance	3.68630111	± 0.00000635
eccentricity	1.00029483	± 0.00001140
argument of perihelion [deg]	134.829785	± 0.000238
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	106.358493	± 0.000024
inclination [deg]	77.794144	± 0.000012
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-79.98	± 3.09