Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group 		C/2006 Q1 McNaught


SSDP Cometary Note C2006Q1N5-001

Comet C/2006 Q1 McNaught

number of observations 2744
number of residuals 5367
data interval 2006 Aug. 20 — 2010 Oct. 17
rms [arcsec] 0.37
orbit quality class 1a+

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT) 20080623.0 = JD 2454640.5
time of perihelion passage (TT) 20080703.855033 ± 0.000040
perihelion distance 2.76363984 ± 0.00000054
eccentricity 0.99977124 ± 0.00000097
argument of perihelion[deg] 344.379539 ± 0.000007
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 199.546472 ± 0.000005
inclination[deg] 59.046972 ± 0.000003
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 82.77 ± 0.35

Nongravitational parameters [10-8 au/day2] A1 = 33.504 ± 0.700 A2 = 1.916 ± 0.550 A3 = 10.604 ± 0.189

Note: Epoch is given in a format: yyyymmdd.d, time of perihelion passage in a format of yyyymmdd.dddddd.
The normal component of NG~motion in the standard nongravitational model seems to be important in orbital fitting and gives a significantly decrease of rms in comparison to model with two NG parameters (radial and transverse components). More details in Królikowska and Dybczyński, 2013.

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

Epoch (TT) 17060826.0
time of perihelion passage (TT) 20080703.956583 ± 0.000105
perihelion distance 2.76497731 ± 0.00000073
eccentricity 0.99985877 ± 0.00000133
argument of perihelion[deg] 344.363245 ± 0.000023
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 199.515362 ± 0.000018
inclination[deg] 59.015604 ± 0.000004
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 51.08 ± 0.48

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) 23180311.0
time of perihelion passage (TT) 20080704.341179 ± 0.000116
perihelion distance 2.76008253 ± 0.00000074
eccentricity 0.99804739 ± 0.00000086
argument of perihelion[deg] 344.289869 ± 0.000044
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 199.476008 ± 0.000013
inclination[deg] 59.076619 ± 0.000003
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 707.44 ± 0.31


Future barycentric positions and velocities of 5001 VCs at 250 au from the Sun are given here   (data format), i.e. after leaving the planetary zone.





Solar System Dynamics & Planetology Group, 2013. All rights reserved

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