C/1960 M1 Humason

Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
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C/1960 M1 Humason

General description

Comet C/1960 M1 was discovered on 18 June 1960, 6.5 months after perihelion passage, and was last seen on 7 June 1961 [Kronk amd Meyer, Cometography: Volume 5].

The comet made its closest approach to Earth on 16 May 1960 (3.91 au), about one month before discovery.

Solution given below is based on data span over 0.98 yr in the range of heliocentric distances from 4.56 au to 6.11 au.

Comet suffered a very slight planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system but these perturbations could lead to escape of the comet from the solar system.

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 C1960M1A5-001

Comet C/1960 M1 Humason

number of observations	34
number of residuals	65
data interval	1960 June 23 — 1961 June 7
rms [arcsec]	1.42
orbit quality class	1b

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	19591218.0	= JD 2436920.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19591211.210719	± 0.007331
perihelion distance	4.26702674	± 0.00011122
eccentricity	1.00087137	± 0.00004611
argument of perihelion [deg]	46.462683	± 0.002369
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	307.261873	± 0.000372
inclination [deg]	125.469473	± 0.000071
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-204.21	± 10.81

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/1960 M1. 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)	16550813
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19591211.632991	± 0.007317
perihelion distance	4.25879346	± 0.00011012
eccentricity	0.99981811	± 0.00004674
argument of perihelion [deg]	46.624560	± 0.002348
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	307.313828	± 0.000366
inclination [deg]	125.469073	± 0.000072
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	42.71	± 10.97

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/1960 M1. 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)	22631005
time of perihelion passage (TT)	19591210.688548	± 0.007319
perihelion distance	4.26090377	± 0.00011035
eccentricity	0.99999666	± 0.00004676
argument of perihelion [deg]	46.426637	± 0.002351
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	307.326242	± 0.000366
inclination [deg]	125.428964	± 0.000071
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	0.78	± 10.97