C/1891 T1 (Barnard)
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Edward E. Barnard |
| Discovery site | Lick Observatory |
| Discovery date | 3 October 1891 |
| Designations | |
| 1891e[2] 1891 IV | |
| Orbital characteristics[4] | |
| Epoch | 14 November 1891 (JD 2412050.5427) |
| Observation arc | 65 days |
| Number of observations | 41 |
| Perihelion | 0.971 AU |
| Eccentricity | ~1.000 |
| Orbital period | ~54,400 years[3] |
| Inclination | 77.988° |
| 219.528° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 269.567° |
| Last perihelion | 14 November 1891 |
| Physical characteristics[5] | |
| 9.4 (1891 apparition) | |
Barnard's Comet, formally designated as C/1891 T1, is a faint non-periodic comet that was observed through telescopes in late 1891. It is one of 16 comets discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard.
Orbit
[edit]William Wallace Campbell published the first orbital calculations for the comet, using positions obtained from the Lick Observatory between 3–5 October 1891.[6] These were further refined by Campbell himself a year later,[7] alongside other astronomers, Elizabeth B. Davis,[8] Adolf Berberich and R. Froebe, where they determined a perihelion date of 13 November 1891.
In 1894, while also working out the ephemerides for 489P/Denning (1894 I), John Russell Hind improved C/1891 T1's orbit by using positions obtained from the Cordoba Observatory between 20 October and 4 December 1891, resulting in a revised perihelion date of 14 November 1891.[9] Henry A. Peck provided the comet's definitive orbit in 1903, where he determined two different trajectories, an elliptical orbit with an orbital period of approximately 54,400 years, and a parabolic trajectory. However, the residuals for the elliptical orbit solution were rather large, thus the latter parabolic trajectory is favored for the comet.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ E. E. Barnard (1891). "Comet 1891e". Astronomical Journal. 11 (247): 56. Bibcode:1891AJ.....11Q..56B. doi:10.1086/101628.
- ^ "Comet Names and Designations". International Comet Quarterly. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
- ^ a b H. A. Peck (1903). "Definitive Orbit of Comet 1891 IV". Astronomical Journal. 23 (544): 163–166. Bibcode:1903AJ.....23..163P. doi:10.1086/103493.
- ^ "C/1891 T1 (Barnard) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
- ^ G. W. Kronk (2003). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 2: 1800–1899. Cambridge University Press. pp. 673–674. ISBN 978-0-521-58505-7.
- ^ W. W. Campbell (1891). "Elements and Ephemeris of Comet e, 1891 (Barnard, October 2)". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 3 (19): 378. doi:10.1086/120368.
- ^ W. W. Campbell (1892). "New Elements and Ephemeris of Comet 1891e". Astronomical Journal. 11 (254): 111–112. Bibcode:1892AJ.....11..111C. doi:10.1086/101652.
- ^ E. B. Davis (1892). "Elements of the Comet 1891e". Astronomical Journal. 11 (255): 119. Bibcode:1892AJ.....11..119D. doi:10.1086/101656.
- ^ J. R. Hind (1894). "Elliptical Elements of the Comet 1894 I (Denning) and Elements of the Comet 1891 IV". Astronomische Nachrichten. 135 (21): 383–384. doi:10.1002/asna.18941352108.
External links
[edit]- C/1891 T1 at the JPL Small-Body Database
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