Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group 		C/1942 C1 Whipple-Bernasconi-Kulin



General description

data set of C/1942 C1

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Comet C/1942 C1 was discovered on 25 January 1942, that is about three months before perihelion passage, and was last seen on 8 January 1943. Soon prediscovery images (exposed on 28 December 1941 and 17 January 1942) was found by F.L. Whipple [Kronk, Cometography: Volume 4].

This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 9 March 1942 (0.659 au), that is about a month after its discovery.

Solution given below is based on data span over 1.03 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 2.222 au through perihelion (1.445 au) to 3.513 au.

Pure gravitational orbit determined from the available positional measurements (224 observations) give 1a-class orbit.

It was possible to determine the non-gravitational orbit for C/1942 C1 where a noticeable decrease of RMS was obtained (from 1.46 arcsec to 1.23 arcsec, see below).

Comet suffered moderate planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that led to escape the comet from the solar system on a hyperbolic orbit (see future barycentric orbits given below for both models of motion).

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 C1942C1N5-001

SSDP Cometary Note C1942C1A5-001

Comet C/1942 C1 Whipple-Bernasconi-Kulin

number of observations 224
number of residuals 412
data interval 1941 Dec. 28 — 1943 Jan. 8
rms [arcsec] 1.46
orbit quality class 1a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT) 19420501.0 = JD 2430480.5
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19420430.833684 ± 0.000116
perihelion distance 1.44530230 ± 0.00000079
eccentricity 1.00088319 ± 0.00000480
argument of perihelion [deg] 223.415778 ± 0.000076
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 340.934552 ± 0.000017
inclination [deg] 79.451905 ± 0.000063
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] -611.08 ± 3.32

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



data set of C/1942 C1

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of original swarm (5001 VCs) of C/1942 C1. 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) 16430217
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19420430.110680 ± 0.000112
perihelion distance 1.44096429 ± 0.00000076
eccentricity 0.99996744 ± 0.00000481
argument of perihelion [deg] 223.544907 ± 0.000077
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 341.080318 ± 0.000017
inclination [deg] 79.489648 ± 0.000063
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 22.60 ± 3.33

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/1942 C1

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of future swarm (5001 VCs) of C/1942 C1. 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) 22320719
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19420430.287518 ± 0.000120
perihelion distance 1.44687232 ± 0.00000079
eccentricity 1.00117778 ± 0.00000482
argument of perihelion [deg] 223.445496 ± 0.000077
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 340.917068 ± 0.000017
inclination [deg] 79.307804 ± 0.000063
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] -814.02 ± 3.33


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 C1942C1N5-001

number of observations 224
number of residuals 411
data interval 1941 Dec. 28 — 1943 Jan. 8
rms [arcsec] 1.23
orbit quality class 1b

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT) 19420501.0 = JD 2430480.5
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19420430.834279 ± 0.000236
perihelion distance 1.44528980 ± 0.00000580
eccentricity 1.00082711 ± 0.00002112
argument of perihelion [deg] 223.416090 ± 0.000147
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 340.934741 ± 0.000065
inclination [deg] 79.451445 ± 0.000242
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] -572.28 ± 14.61

Nongravitational parameters [10-8 au/day2] A1 = 1.150 ± 0.545 A2 = -0.322 ± 0.229 A3 = -0.739 ± 0.252

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



data set of C/1942 C1

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of original swarm (5001 VCs) of C/1942 C1. 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) 16430108
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19420430.111719 ± 0.000984
perihelion distance 1.44094260 ± 0.00001325
eccentricity 0.99994665 ± 0.00002241
argument of perihelion [deg] 223.546319 ± 0.001010
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 341.080424 ± 0.000038
inclination [deg] 79.488513 ± 0.000463
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 37.02 ± 15.55

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.



data set of C/1942 C1

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of future swarm (5001 VCs) of C/1942 C1. 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) 22321226
time of perihelion passage (TT) 19420430.286227 ± 0.000390
perihelion distance 1.44684302 ± 0.00001091
eccentricity 1.00112229 ± 0.00001243
argument of perihelion [deg] 223.443680 ± 0.000555
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 340.917930 ± 0.000293
inclination [deg] 79.307463 ± 0.000203
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] -775.68 ± 8.58


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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