C/2012 B3 La Sagra

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C/2012 B3 La Sagra

General description

Comet C/2012 B3 was discovered about two months after perihelion passage and next observed almost continuously 0.56 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 3.57 au to 4.23 au.

Comet had its closest approach to Earth on 24 March 2012 (3.436 au, almost two months after discovery).

C/2012 B3 suffered a very slight planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary 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 C2012B3A5-001

Comet C/2012 B3 La Sagra

number of observations	301
number of residuals	589
data interval	2012 Jan. 29 — 2012 Aug. 21
rms [arcsec]	0.38
orbit quality class	1b

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	20111225.0	= JD 2455920.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20111206.856472	± 0.001501
perihelion distance	3.53656667	± 0.00000712
eccentricity	1.00142339	± 0.00001561
argument of perihelion [deg]	50.736713	± 0.000322
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	252.998269	± 0.000064
inclination [deg]	106.932238	± 0.000012
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-402.48	± 4.41

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/2012 B3. 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)	17080924
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20111206.230427	± 0.001538
perihelion distance	3.53588030	± 0.00000715
eccentricity	0.99982124	± 0.00001565
argument of perihelion [deg]	50.760068	± 0.000325
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	252.940274	± 0.000065
inclination [deg]	106.920057	± 0.000013
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	50.55	± 4.42

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/2012 B3. 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)	23160321
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20111207.123260	± 0.001503
perihelion distance	3.53814747	± 0.00000729
eccentricity	0.99949879	± 0.00001566
argument of perihelion [deg]	50.737091	± 0.000324
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	252.983956	± 0.000064
inclination [deg]	106.936866	± 0.000013
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	141.66	± 4.43