C/1944 K2

Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group

C/1944 K2 van Gent

General description

Comet C/1944 K2 was discovered on 23 May 1944, that is about two months before perihelion passage, and was last seen on 11 August 1945. Soon, the prediscovery image from 15 May was found by H. van Gent [Kronk, Cometography: Volume 4].

This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 20 May 1944 (1.913 au), that is 3 days before its discovery.

Solution given below is based on data span over 1.19 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 2.288 au through perihelion (2.226 au) to 4.664 au.

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).

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 C1944K2A1-001

Comet C/1944 K2 van Gent

number of observations	36
number of residuals	56
data interval	1944 June 1 — 1945 Aug. 11
rms [arcsec]	1.58
orbit quality class	1b

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	19440601.0	= JD 2431242.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19440717.611796	± 0.001868
perihelion distance	2.22594125	± 0.00001342
eccentricity	1.00205322	± 0.00002843
argument of perihelion [deg]	336.973475	± 0.000686
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	203.500207	± 0.000194
inclination [deg]	95.004881	± 0.000159
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-922.41	± 12.77

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/1944 K2. 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)	16440105
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19440718.501473	± 0.001683
perihelion distance	2.22564815	± 0.00001298
eccentricity	0.99995373	± 0.00002854
argument of perihelion [deg]	337.096904	± 0.000687
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	203.525912	± 0.000191
inclination [deg]	95.124917	± 0.000157
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	20.79	± 12.82

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/1944 K2. 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)	22390215
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19440718.115518	± 0.001858
perihelion distance	2.22184587	± 0.00001318
eccentricity	1.00115253	± 0.00002848
argument of perihelion [deg]	336.928234	± 0.000683
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	203.612746	± 0.000193
inclination [deg]	94.989126	± 0.000156
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-518.73	± 12.81