C/1903 M1

Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group

C/1903 M1 Borrelly

General description

Comet C/1903 M1 was discovered on 21 June 1903, about two months before perihelion passage, and was last seen on 23 October 1903 [Kronk, Cometography: Volume 3]. The prediscovery images were found on plates exposed on 29-30 May (Harvard College Observatory).

In July-August C/1903 M1 was a naked eye object (with maximum brightness between 2 and 3). Before its conjunction with the Sun comet was extensively observed up to August 24. After perihelion passage it was observed a few times in October 1-23 at the Royal Observatory from the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa).

This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 16 July 1903 (0.267 au), that is 3.5 weeks after its discovery.

Solution given below is based on data span over 0.332 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 1.52 au through perihelion (0.330 au) to 1.36 au.

Comet suffered moderate planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that led to escape the comet from the planetary zone on a hiperbolic orbit (see future barycentric orbit given below)

More details in Królikowska et al. 2014

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 C1903M1A5-001

Comet C/1903 M1 Borrelly

number of observations	653
number of residuals	1021
data interval	1903 June 24 — 1903 Oct. 23
rms [arcsec]	2.03
orbit quality class	2a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	19030903.0	= JD 2416360.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19030828.108377	± 0.000058
perihelion distance	0.33018087	± 0.00000150
eccentricity	1.00040917	± 0.00000310
argument of perihelion [deg]	127.251980	± 0.000260
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	294.909653	± 0.000054
inclination [deg]	85.015231	± 0.000197
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-1239.23	± 9.40

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/1903 M1. 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)	16060611
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19030826.871477	± 0.000043
perihelion distance	0.32438523	± 0.00000159
eccentricity	0.99999218	± 0.00000310
argument of perihelion [deg]	127.495100	± 0.000266
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	294.778173	± 0.000054
inclination [deg]	85.303818	± 0.000202
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	24.12	± 9.55

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.

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of future swarm (5001 VCs) of C/1903 M1. Each density map is given in logarithmic scale presented on the right in the individual panel.
The same figure in the new window

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

Epoch (TT)	21900120
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19030828.359623	± 0.000136
perihelion distance	0.33314041	± 0.00000153
eccentricity	1.00033647	± 0.00000318
argument of perihelion [deg]	127.333709	± 0.000266
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	295.030879	± 0.000058
inclination [deg]	84.934214	± 0.000200
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-1010.01	± 9.55