C/2013 B2 Catalina

Solar System
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Planetology
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C/2013 B2 Catalina

General description

Comet C/2013 B2 was discovered 5.5 months before perihelion passage and next observed 1.2 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 4.01 au – 3.734 au (perihelion) – 4.43 au.

Comet had its closest approach to Earth on 23 January 2013 (3.251 au, one week after discovery).

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 C2013B2N5-001

Comet C/2013 B2 Catalina

number of observations	132
number of residuals	260
data interval	2013 Jan. 16 — 2014 Mar. 30
rms [arcsec]	0.29
orbit quality class	1a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	20130707.0	= JD 2456480.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20130701.537627	± 0.001891
perihelion distance	3.73413270	± 0.00000595
eccentricity	1.00261361	± 0.00001156
argument of perihelion [deg]	156.438198	± 0.000358
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	331.957131	± 0.000038
inclination [deg]	43.457148	± 0.000027
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-699.92	± 3.09

Nongravitational parameters [10^-8 au/day²]

A₁ = 403.22 ± 1978.10

A₂ = 7577.20 ± 1582.10

A₃ = 0.0 (assumed)

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/2013 B2. 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)	17091029
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20130701.532995	± 0.002525
perihelion distance	3.73287078	± 0.00000891
eccentricity	0.99974951	± 0.00001381
argument of perihelion [deg]	156.436007	± 0.000559
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	332.056609	± 0.000038
inclination [deg]	43.476729	± 0.000026
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	67.10	± 3.70

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/2013 B2. 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)	23190125
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20130701.507435	± 0.003394
perihelion distance	3.72667569	± 0.00001034
eccentricity	0.99914562	± 0.00002434
argument of perihelion [deg]	156.311274	± 0.000660
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	331.953004	± 0.000037
inclination [deg]	43.487815	± 0.000027
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	229.26	± 6.53