C/1941 K1

Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group

C/1941 K1 van Gent

General description

Comet C/1941 K1 was discovered on 27 May 1941, that is about three months before perihelion passage, and was last seen on 18 February 1942 [Kronk, Cometography: Volume 4].

This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 21 June 1941 (0.603 au), that is almost a month after its discovery. The next close approach to the Earth was on 24 November (0.771 au).

Solution given below is based on data span over 0.710 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 1.759 au through perihelion (0.875 au) to 2.738 au.

Comet suffered small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system and left the planetary zone on a slightly more tight orbit in comparison to its original barycentric 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 C1941K1A5-001

Comet C/1941 K1 van Gent

number of observations	461
number of residuals	801
data interval	1941 June 4 — 1942 Feb. 18
rms [arcsec]	2.22
orbit quality class	1b

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	19410903.0	= JD 2430240.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19410903.184122	± 0.000051
perihelion distance	0.87479022	± 0.00000031
eccentricity	1.00026410	± 0.00000216
argument of perihelion [deg]	85.321879	± 0.000038
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	257.559607	± 0.000024
inclination [deg]	94.517037	± 0.000106
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-301.90	± 2.47

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/1941 K1. 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)	16430217
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19410903.211543	± 0.000061
perihelion distance	0.87864337	± 0.00000031
eccentricity	0.99995265	± 0.00000217
argument of perihelion [deg]	85.289643	± 0.000038
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	257.546307	± 0.000024
inclination [deg]	94.468456	± 0.000108
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	53.89	± 2.47

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/1941 K1. 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)	22410712
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19410904.986298	± 0.000077
perihelion distance	0.86551738	± 0.00000031
eccentricity	0.99985613	± 0.00000213
argument of perihelion [deg]	85.103947	± 0.000038
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	257.564985	± 0.000024
inclination [deg]	94.558245	± 0.000108
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	166.22	± 2.47