C/2006 YC Catalina-Christensen

Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group

C/2006 YC Catalina–Christensen

General description

C/2006 YC was discovered almost simultaneously on 16 December 2006 by the Catalina Sky Survey as an apparently asteroidal object, and by E. J. Christensen during the course of Mount Lemmon Survey who quickly reported its cometary appearance.

This comet made its closest approach to Earth on 17 February 2007 (4.116 au), five months after perihelion.

Solution given below is based on data span over 0.3 yr in a narrow range of heliocentric distances from 5.00 au to 5.22 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 C2006YCA2-001

Comet C/2006 YC Catalina–Christensen

number of observations	147
number of residuals	286
data interval	2006 Dec. 16 — 2007 Apr. 15
rms [arcsec]	0.42
orbit quality class	2a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	20060922.0	= JD 2454000.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20060911.776952	± 0.031475
perihelion distance	4.94821307	± 0.00013935
eccentricity	1.00023183	± 0.00006089
argument of perihelion [deg]	335.518236	± 0.004348
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	154.288752	± 0.000125
inclination [deg]	69.558721	± 0.001653
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-46.85	± 12.30

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 YC. 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)	17010305
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20060911.372759	± 0.031507
perihelion distance	4.94671296	± 0.00013762
eccentricity	0.99977378	± 0.00005955
argument of perihelion [deg]	335.521538	± 0.004357
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	154.250213	± 0.000123
inclination [deg]	69.543022	± 0.001630
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	45.73	± 12.04

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)	23161226
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20060911.244477	± 0.031483
perihelion distance	4.94218283	± 0.00013842
eccentricity	0.99783934	± 0.00005959
argument of perihelion [deg]	335.365069	± 0.004359
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	154.232162	± 0.000120
inclination [deg]	69.573037	± 0.001628
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	437.19	± 12.07