Comet 4P/Faye (also known as Faye's Comet or Comet Faye) is a
periodic Jupiter-family comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...
discovered in November 1843 by
Hervé Faye
Hervé Auguste Étienne Albans Faye ( – ) was a French astronomer, born at Saint-Benoît-du-Sault (Indre) and educated at the École Polytechnique, which he left in 1834, before completing his course, to accept a position in the Paris Obse ...
at the
Royal Observatory in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. Its most recent
perihelia
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion.
General description
There are two apsides in any ellip ...
(closest approaches to the Sun) were on November 15, 2006; May 29, 2014;
and September 8, 2021.
[
The comet was first observed by Faye on November 23, but bad weather prevented its confirmation until the 25th.][ It was so faint that it had already passed ]perihelion
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion.
General description
There are two apsides in any ellip ...
about a month before its discovery, and only a close pass by the Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
had made it bright enough for discovery. Otto Wilhelm von Struve
Otto Wilhelm von Struve (May 7, 1819 (Julian calendar: April 25) – April 14, 1905) was a Russian astronomer of Baltic German origins. In Russian, his name is normally given as Otto Vasil'evich Struve (Отто Васильевич Струве ...
reported that the comet was visible to the naked eye at the end of November.[ It remained visible for smaller telescopes until January 10, 1844, and was finally lost to larger telescopes on April 10, 1844.][
In 1844, ]Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander
Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander (22 March 1799 – 17 February 1875) was a German astronomer. He is known for his determinations of stellar brightnesses, positions, and distances.
Life and work
Argelander was born in Memel in the Kingd ...
and Thomas James Henderson
Thomas Henderson FRSE FRS FRAS (28 December 1798 – 23 November 1844) was a Scottish astronomer and mathematician noted for being the first person to measure the distance to Alpha Centauri, the major component of the nearest stellar syste ...
independently computed that the comet was a short-period comet; by May, its period had been calculated to be 7.43 years.[ ]Urbain Le Verrier
Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier FRS (FOR) HFRSE (; 11 March 1811 – 23 September 1877) was a French astronomer and mathematician who specialized in celestial mechanics and is best known for predicting the existence and position of Neptune using ...
computed the positions for the 1851 apparition, predicting perihelion in April 1851.[ The comet was found close to his predicted position on November 29, 1850, by ]James Challis
James Challis FRS (12 December 1803 – 3 December 1882) was an English clergyman, physicist and astronomer. Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy and the director of the Cambridge Observatory, he investigated a wide ra ...
.[
The comet was missed during its apparitions in 1903 and 1918 due to unfavorable observing circumstances.][ It reached a brightness of about 9th ]magnitude
Magnitude may refer to:
Mathematics
*Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction
*Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object
*Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector
*Order of ...
in 2006.[
Орбита кометы 4P.jpg
]
References
External links
Orbital simulation
from JPL (Java)
Horizons Ephemeris
4P/Faye at CometBase database
– Seiichi Yoshida @ aerith.net
4P/Faye
at the Minor Planet Center
The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Function
...
's Database
Periodic comets
0004
Comets in 2014
20210908
18431123
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