C/1948 E1

Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group

C/1948 E1 Pajdušáková–Mrkos

General description

Comet C/1948 E1 was discovered on 13 March 1948, that is two months before perihelion passage, and was last seen on 9 February 1950. Prediscovery images were found by G. van Biesbroeck on plates exposed on 15 February and 5 March at Yerkes Observatory (Wisconsin, USA) [Kronk, Cometography: Volume 4].

This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 24 April 1948 (1.860 au), that is about three weeks before perihelion passage.

Solution given below is based on data span over 1.912 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 2.240 au through perihelion (2.107 au) to 6.646 au.

Comet suffered almost negligible planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system, and it will enter the planet zone as Oort spike comet in the next perihelion passage (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 C1948E1A5-001

Comet C/1948 E1 Pajdušáková–Mrkos

number of observations	247
number of residuals	431
data interval	1948 Mar. 13 — 1950 Feb. 9
rms [arcsec]	1.48
orbit quality class	1a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	19480509.0	= JD 2432680.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19480516.612175	± 0.000281
perihelion distance	2.10705582	± 0.00000236
eccentricity	1.00077771	± 0.00000570
argument of perihelion [deg]	66.898096	± 0.000124
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	247.652645	± 0.000043
inclination [deg]	92.919469	± 0.000032
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-369.10	± 2.70

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/1948 E1. 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)	16471103
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19480515.582710	± 0.000303
perihelion distance	2.09496271	± 0.00000240
eccentricity	0.99992197	± 0.00000575
argument of perihelion [deg]	67.168988	± 0.000127
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	247.706993	± 0.000044
inclination [deg]	92.925547	± 0.000034
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	37.25	± 2.74

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/1948 E1. 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)	22481112
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19480516.423445	± 0.000277
perihelion distance	2.10546507	± 0.00000244
eccentricity	0.99992587	± 0.00000577
argument of perihelion [deg]	66.831432	± 0.000127
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	247.667975	± 0.000044
inclination [deg]	92.893283	± 0.000033
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	35.21	± 2.74