C/2006 K1 McNaught

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C/2006 K1 McNaught

General description

C/2006 K1 was discovered on 17 May 2006 by R. H. McNaught on the Siding Spring Survey images taken with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope [IAUC 8712, 2006 May 18].

This comet made its closest approach to Earth on 30 October 2007 (3.761 au), 3.3 months after perihelion.

Solution given below is based on data span over 2.8 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 5.60 au – 4.426 au (perihelion) – 6.41 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 C2006K1A2-001

Comet C/2006 K1 McNaught

number of observations	417
number of residuals	829
data interval	2006 May 17 — 2009 Feb. 28
rms [arcsec]	0.47
orbit quality class	1a+

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	20070808.0	= JD 2454320.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20070720.550991	± 0.000347
perihelion distance	4.42551584	± 0.00000227
eccentricity	1.00147580	± 0.00000414
argument of perihelion [deg]	296.442241	± 0.000042
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	72.114889	± 0.000010
inclination [deg]	53.876951	± 0.000009
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-333.47	± 0.93

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/2006 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)	17030404
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20070720.112692	± 0.000348
perihelion distance	4.42388653	± 0.00000230
eccentricity	0.99992817	± 0.00000410
argument of perihelion [deg]	296.473838	± 0.000042
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	72.153187	± 0.000010
inclination [deg]	53.870510	± 0.000009
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	16.24	± 0.93

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)	23070905
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20070720.594029	± 0.000339
perihelion distance	4.42802761	± 0.00000227
eccentricity	1.00156044	± 0.00000410
argument of perihelion [deg]	296.450187	± 0.000042
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	72.134583	± 0.000010
inclination [deg]	53.846964	± 0.000009
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-352.40	± 0.93