C/1950 K1

Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group

C/1950 K1 Minkowski

General description

Comet C/1950 K1 was discovered on 19 May 1950, almost 9 months before perihelion passage and was last seen on 19 January 1953 [Kronk, Cometography: Volume 4].

This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 23 March 1951 (1.774 au), that is over two months after perihelion passage.

Solution given below is based on data span over 2.652 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 3.531 au through perihelion (2.572 au) to 7.258 au.

Comet suffered small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that caused a bit tighter future orbit (see original and future barycentric orbits 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 C1950K1A5-001

Comet C/1950 K1 Minkowski

number of observations	254
number of residuals	466
data interval	1950 May 27 — 1953 Jan. 19
rms [arcsec]	1.28
orbit quality class	1a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	19510203.0	= JD 2433680.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19510115.043740	± 0.000378
perihelion distance	2.57232857	± 0.00000139
eccentricity	1.00121061	± 0.00000556
argument of perihelion [deg]	192.468633	± 0.000092
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	38.890330	± 0.000047
inclination [deg]	144.155175	± 0.000031
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-470.63	± 2.16

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/1950 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)	16490804
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19510115.032274	± 0.000373
perihelion distance	2.57130432	± 0.00000141
eccentricity	0.99988404	± 0.00000560
argument of perihelion [deg]	192.367874	± 0.000093
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	38.749976	± 0.000047
inclination [deg]	144.145001	± 0.000031
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	45.10	± 2.18

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/1950 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)	22550321
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19510114.572471	± 0.000396
perihelion distance	2.57371784	± 0.00000139
eccentricity	0.99928354	± 0.00000561
argument of perihelion [deg]	192.416020	± 0.000093
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	38.885979	± 0.000048
inclination [deg]	144.138428	± 0.000031
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	278.37	± 2.18