Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group 		C/1937 N1 Finsler



General description

data set of C/1937 N1

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Comet C/1937 N1 was discovered on 4 July 1937, about 1.5 month before its perihelion passage, and was last seen on 30 December 1937 [Kronk, Cometography: Volume 4].

This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 9 August 1937 (0.548 au), that is 6 days before perihelion passage.

Solution given below is based on data span over 0.490 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 1.144 au through perihelion (0.863 au) to 2.355 au.

Pure gravitational orbit determined from all available positional measurements (417 observations) give 2a-class orbit similarly as in Minor Planet Center (212 obs. used, the same arc of data; 2A class, see MPC).

It was possible to determine the non-gravitational orbit for C/1937 N1; the derived NG solution give significantly different original and future 1/a as in the case of pure gravitational model of motion (see below).

Comet suffered rather small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system. However, the effects of these perturbations on the orbital evolution inside the planetary zone turned out to be quite different in both models of motion (see original and future barycentric orbits in both solutions 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.




Non–gravitational orbit — see below SSDP Cometary Note C1937N1N5-001

SSDP Cometary Note C1937N1A5-001

Comet C/1937 N1 Finsler

number of observations 413
number of residuals 765
data interval 1937 July 4 — 1937 Dec. 30
rms [arcsec] 2.05
orbit quality class 2a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT) 19370815.0 = JD 2428760.5
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19370815.665333 ± 0.000189
perihelion distance 0.86274422 ± 0.00000040
eccentricity 1.00005979 ± 0.00003586
argument of perihelion [deg] 114.835849 ± 0.000396
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 59.420445 ± 0.000220
inclination [deg] 146.415278 ± 0.000197
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] -69.30 ± 41.56

Note: Epoch is given in a format: yyyymmdd.d, time of perihelion passage in a format of yyyymmdd.dddddd.



data set of C/1937 N1

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of original swarm (5001 VCs) of C/1937 N1. 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) 16390419
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19370815.655572 ± 0.001324
perihelion distance 0.85943419 ± 0.00000041
eccentricity 0.99996793 ± 0.00003482
argument of perihelion [deg] 114.977962 ± 0.000370
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 59.471335 ± 0.000201
inclination [deg] 146.361452 ± 0.000205
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 37.31 ± 40.51

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.



data set of C/1937 N1

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of future swarm (5001 VCs) of C/1937 N1. 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) 22370911
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19370815.710412 ± 0.000147
perihelion distance 0.85988734 ± 0.00000043
eccentricity 0.99983290 ± 0.00003483
argument of perihelion [deg] 114.636164 ± 0.000405
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 59.325102 ± 0.000235
inclination [deg] 146.421365 ± 0.000195
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 194.32 ± 40.51


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.



Non–gravitational orbit


SSDP Cometary Note C1937N1N5-001

number of observations 413
number of residuals 766
data interval 1937 July 4 — 1937 Dec. 30
rms [arcsec] 1.92
orbit quality class 2b

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT) 19370815.0 = JD 2428760.5
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19370815.666463 ± 0.000525
perihelion distance 0.86274100 ± 0.00000111
eccentricity 0.99976776 ± 0.00010937
argument of perihelion [deg] 114.837745 ± 0.001203
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 59.421272 ± 0.000665
inclination [deg] 146.416972 ± 0.000529
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 269.19 ± 126.77

Nongravitational parameters [10-8 au/day2] A1 = 1.976 ± 0.495 A2 = 2.115 ± 0.883 A3 = -0.102 ± 0.193

Note: Epoch is given in a format: yyyymmdd.d, time of perihelion passage in a format of yyyymmdd.dddddd.



data set of C/1937 N1

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of original swarm (5001 VCs) of C/1937 N1. 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) 16331027
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19370815.661527 ± 0.001655
perihelion distance 0.85934606 ± 0.00002184
eccentricity 0.99956398 ± 0.00008655
argument of perihelion [deg] 114.991035 ± 0.002702
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 59.472210 ± 0.000809
inclination [deg] 146.363379 ± 0.000573
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 507.39 ± 100.72

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.



data set of C/1937 N1

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of future swarm (5001 VCs) of C/1937 N1. 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) 22380218
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19370815.715783 ± 0.001815
perihelion distance 0.85990802 ± 0.00002536
eccentricity 0.99980114 ± 0.00014766
argument of perihelion [deg] 114.641669 ± 0.002542
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 59.325890 ± 0.000772
inclination [deg] 146.423252 ± 0.000625
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 231.25 ± 171.72


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, 2014. All rights reserved

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