C/1955 G1 Abell

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C/1955 G1 Abell

General description

Comet C/1955 G1 was discovered on 13 April 1955, a year and three weeks after perihelion passage, and was last seen on 30 April 1956 [Kronk, Cometography: Volume 4].

The comet made two close approach to Earth: on 24 July 1953 (4.09 au, eight months before perihelion passage), and on 21 May 1954 (4.03 au, two months after perihelion).

Solution given below is based on data span over 1.1 yrs in the range of heliocentric distances from 5.45 au to 7.42 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 C1955G1A1-001

Comet C/1955 G1 Abell

number of observations	35
number of residuals	63
data interval	1955 Apr. 13 — 1956 Apr. 30
rms [arcsec]	1.00
orbit quality class	1b

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	19540408.0	= JD 2434840.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19540324.114918	± 0.011720
perihelion distance	4.49562524	± 0.00010953
eccentricity	1.00279180	± 0.00007595
argument of perihelion [deg]	73.749143	± 0.001855
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	321.334541	± 0.000335
inclination [deg]	123.932726	± 0.000280
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-621.00	± 16.90

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/1955 G1. 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)	16490116
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19540325.000609	± 0.011929
perihelion distance	4.49692869	± 0.00010950
eccentricity	0.99963621	± 0.00007649
argument of perihelion [deg]	73.796250	± 0.001859
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	321.294299	± 0.000333
inclination [deg]	123.952116	± 0.000276
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	80.90	± 17.01

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/1955 G1. 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)	22580414
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19540325.394275	± 0.011617
perihelion distance	4.49578851	± 0.00010951
eccentricity	1.00009459	± 0.00007642
argument of perihelion [deg]	73.779413	± 0.001858
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	321.311236	± 0.000334
inclination [deg]	123.923277	± 0.000275
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-21.04	± 17.00