Comet Machholz, formally designated C/2004 Q2, is a long-period comet discovered by Donald Machholz on August 27, 2004. It reached naked eye brightness in January 2005. Unusual for such a relatively bright comet, its perihelion was farther from the Sun than the Earth's orbit.

Period

Given the

orbital eccentricity In astrodynamics, the orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a dimensionless parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is a circular orbit, values betwee ...

of this object, different epochs can generate quite different heliocentric unperturbed two-body best-fit solutions to the aphelion distance (maximum distance) of this object. For objects at such high eccentricity, the Suns barycentric coordinates are more stable than heliocentric coordinates. Using JPL Horizons the barycentric orbital elements for epoch 2050 generate a

semi-major axis In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the long ...

of 537 AU and a period of approximately 12,400 years. There are six other long-period comets named Machholz: C/1978 R3 (a.k.a. 1978 XIII, 1978l), C/1985 K1 (a.k.a. 1985 VIII, 1985e), C/1988 P1 (a.k.a. 1988 XV, 1988j), C/1992 N1 (a.k.a. 1992 XVII, 1992k), C/1994 T1 (a.k.a. 1994 XXVII, 1994r), and C/2010 F4. In addition, there are C/1992 F1 (Tanaka-Machholz), C/1994 N1 (Nakamura-Nishimura-Machholz) and C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto).

References

External links

''Sky and Telescope'' — Comet Machholz in the Evening Sky

''Sky and Telescope'' — Catch Comet Machholz at Its Best

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20050309073553/http://www.britastro.com/galleries/index.php?spgmGal=Comet_C2004_Q2_Machholz&spgmFilters=t Gallery of images* * Non-periodic comets 20040827 {{comet-stub

Period

See also

References

External links