C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya–Jones)

C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya–Jones)
Discovery[1]
Discovered bySyogo Utsunomiya
Albert F. A. L. Jones
Discovery siteAso, Kumamoto, Japan
MJUO, New Zealand
Discovery date18 November 2000
Orbital characteristics[4][5]
Epoch11 December 2000 (JD 2451889.5)
Observation arc58 days
Number of
observations
440
Aphelion~70,000 AU (inbound)
~1,670 AU (outbound)
Perihelion0.321 AU
Semi-major axis~35,000 AU (inbound)
~835 AU (outbound)
Eccentricity0.9999996
Orbital periodmillions of years (inbound)
~24,000 years (outbound)
Max. orbital speed74.3 km/s (166,000 mph)[2]
Inclination160.16°
10.766°
Argument of
periapsis
51.509°
Last perihelion26 December 2000
Next perihelionDisintegrated[3]
TJupiter–0.661
Earth MOID0.101 AU
Jupiter MOID0.838 AU
Physical characteristics
Comet total
magnitude
(M1)
12.6
Comet nuclear
magnitude (M2)
20.5
5.5
(2000 apparition)[6]

C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya–Jones) is a non-periodic comet from the Oort cloud discovered on 18 November 2000, by Syogo Utsunomiya and Albert F. A. L. Jones.[7] The comet reached up to apparent magnitude 5.5,[6] but was only 27 degrees from the Sun in mid-December 2000.[8]

Orbit

The comet has an observation arc of 58 days allowing a reasonable estimate of the orbit. Though the near-perihelion orbit solution shows the comet to be on a hyperbolic trajectory,[5] the orbit of a long-period comet is properly obtained when the osculating orbit is computed at an epoch after leaving the planetary region and is calculated with respect to the center of mass of the Solar System. Using JPL Horizons, the barycentric orbital elements for epoch 2020-Jan-01 generate a semi-major axis of 835 AU (124,900 million km), an aphelion distance of 1,670 AU (250,000 million km), and a period of approximately 24,000 years.[4]

C/2000 W1 came to perihelion on 26 December 2000 when it passed 0.321 AU (48.0 million km) from the Sun.[5] It was last observed in February–March 2001 when it faded suddenly and probably disintegrated.[3][9]

References

  1. ^ S. Utsunomiya; A. L. Jones; et al. (26 November 2000). D. W. Green (ed.). "Comet C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya–Jones)". IAU Circular. 7526 (1). Bibcode:2000IAUC.7526....1N. ISSN 0081-0304.
  2. ^ "Horizons Batch for 2000-Dec-26 perihelion velocity". JPL Horizons. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Split Comets (and observed to disintegrate or fade out)". International Comet Quarterly. Retrieved 31 August 2011. (magnitude chart)
  4. ^ a b Horizons output. "Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for Comet C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya-Jones)". Retrieved 2 March 2011. (Solution using the Solar System Barycenter and barycentric coordinates. Select Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0)
  5. ^ a b c "C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya–Jones) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  6. ^ a b J. G. S. Aguiar; A. Amorim; A. Pearce; S. Yoshida (20 December 2000). D. W. Green (ed.). "Comet C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya–Jones)". IAU Circular. 7546 (3). Bibcode:2000IAUC.7546....3A. ISSN 0081-0304.
  7. ^ Andreas Kammerer. "Analysis of past comet apparitions: C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya-Jones)". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  8. ^ "Horizons Batch for 2000-Dec-16 solar angle". JPL Horizons. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  9. ^ A. C. Gilmore (6 March 2001). D. W. Green (ed.). "Comet C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya–Jones)". IAU Circular. 7594 (2). Bibcode:2001IAUC.7594....2G. ISSN 0081-0304.