Comet Borrelly or Borrelly's Comet (official designation: 19P/Borrelly) is a

periodic comet Periodic comets (also known as short-period comets) are comets with orbital periods of less than 200 years or that have been observed during more than a single perihelion passage (e.g. 153P/Ikeya–Zhang). "Periodic comet" is also sometimes used ...

, which was visited by the spacecraft

Deep Space 1 ''Deep Space 1'' (DS1) was a NASA technology demonstration spacecraft which flew by an asteroid and a comet. It was part of the New Millennium Program, dedicated to testing advanced technologies. Launched on 24 October 1998, the ''Deep Space ...

in 2001. The comet last came to

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 elli ...

(closest approach to the Sun) on February 1, 2022 and will next come to perihelion on December 11, 2028. Deep Space 1 returned images of the comet's nucleus from 3400 kilometers away. At 45 meters per pixel, it was the highest resolution view ever seen of a comet.

Discovery

The comet was discovered by

Alphonse Borrelly Alphonse Louis Nicolas Borrelly (December 8, 1842 – February 28, 1926) was a French astronomer. He joined the Marseille Observatory in 1864. In the course of his career, he discovered a number of asteroids and comets, including the periodic ...

during a routine search for comets at Marseilles,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

on December 28, 1904.

Deep Space 1 flyby

On September 21, 2001 the spacecraft

, which was launched to test new equipment in space, performed a flyby of Borrelly. It was steered toward the comet during the extended mission of the craft, and presented an unexpected bonus for the mission scientists. Despite the failure of a system that helped determine its orientation, Deep Space 1 managed to send back to

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 ...

what were, at the time, the best images and other science data from a comet. Orbits of periodic comets

References

External links

* http://jcometobs.web.fc2.com/pcmtn/0019p.htm
19P
– Gary W. Kronk's Cometography
Elements and Ephemeris for 19P/Borrelly
– Minor Planet Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Borrelly, 019P Periodic comets 0019 Comets visited by spacecraft Comets in 2015 19041228