Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovered by | Giovanni B. Donati Carlo Toussaint |
Discovery site | Florence, Italy |
Discovery date | 23 July 1864 |
Designations | |
Alternative designations | 1864 III |
Orbital characteristics | |
Epoch | 16 October 1864 (JD 2402160.5) |
Observation arc | 213 days |
Number of observations | 57 |
Aphelion | 2,900 AU |
Perihelion | 0.931 AU |
Semi-major axis | 1,450 AU |
Eccentricity | 0.999358 |
Orbital period | 55,242 years |
Inclination | 109.71° |
Longitude of ascending node | 33.666° |
Argument of periapsis | 232.46° |
Last perihelion | 11 October 1864 |
TJupiter | –0.400 |
Physical characteristics | |
Comet total magnitude (M1) | 5.2 |
Apparent magnitude | 9.0 (1864 apparition) |
Comet Donati–Toussaint, formally designated as C/1864 O1, is a non-periodic comet co-discovered by Italian astronomers, Giovanni Battista Donati and Carlo Toussaint in July 1864.
Discovery and observations
On the night of 23 July 1864, astronomers Giovanni Battista Donati and Carlo Toussaint spotted a new comet within the constellation Coma Berenices. Their discovery was confirmed four days later on July 27. Although it never came close to either the Sun or the Earth to allow itself to become a bright object, astronomers were able to observe it until 25 February 1865, and thus were able to determine its orbit with higher precision.
References
Notes
Citations
- M. Krüger. "Comet II, 1864". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 24: 223.
- "Comet Names and Designations". International Comet Quarterly. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
- "C/1864 O1 (Donati–Toussaint) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
- ^ G. W. Kronk (2003). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 2: 1800–1899. Cambridge University Press. pp. 329–330. ISBN 978-0-521-58505-7.
External links
- C/1864 O1 at the JPL Small-Body Database
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