C/1954 O2 Baade

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Planetology
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C/1954 O2 Baade

General description

Comet C/1954 O2 was discovered on 31 July 1954, about one year before perihelion passage, and was last seen on 26 November 1957 [Kronk, Cometography: Volume 4].

The comet made its closest approach to Earth on 15 December 1955 (3.07 au), four months after perihelion passage.

Solution given below is based on data span over 3.3 yrs in the range of heliocentric distances: 4.98 au – 3.87 au (perihelion) – 7.75 au.

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 C1954O2A5-001

Comet C/1954 O2 Baade

number of observations	87
number of residuals	156
data interval	1954 Aug. 10 — 1957 Nov. 26
rms [arcsec]	1.19
orbit quality class	1a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	19550801.0	= JD 2435320.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19550813.303502	± 0.001365
perihelion distance	3.86992778	± 0.00000601
eccentricity	1.00049195	± 0.00001542
argument of perihelion [deg]	144.670447	± 0.000213
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	265.339852	± 0.000059
inclination [deg]	100.389026	± 0.000059
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-127.12	± 3.98

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/1954 O2. 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)	16511122
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19550813.181633	± 0.001371
perihelion distance	3.86707539	± 0.00000597
eccentricity	0.99981772	± 0.00001524
argument of perihelion [deg]	144.684347	± 0.000216
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	265.289915	± 0.000059
inclination [deg]	100.342539	± 0.000059
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	47.14	± 3.94

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/1954 O2. 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)	22611015
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19550813.099511	± 0.001368
perihelion distance	3.86565432	± 0.00000597
eccentricity	0.99901175	± 0.00001524
argument of perihelion [deg]	144.529391	± 0.000217
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	265.271988	± 0.000059
inclination [deg]	100.399040	± 0.000059
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	255.65	± 3.94