 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Alphonse Borrelly |
| Discovery date | December 28, 1904 |
| Designations | |
| 1905 II; 1911 VIII; 1918 IV; 1925 VIII; 1932 IV; 1953 IV; 1960 V; 1967 VIII; 1974 VII; 1981 IV; 1987 XXXIII; 1994 XXX | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 2022-08-09 (JD 2459800.5) | |
| Aphelion | 5.90 AU[1] |
| Perihelion | 1.306 AU[1] |
| 3.61 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.6377 |
| 6.85 yr | |
| Inclination | 29.30° |
| 2028-Dec-11[2] February 1, 2022 (last)[1] | |
| Earth MOID | 0.36 AU (54 million km) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 8×4×4 km[3] |
Mean radius | 2.4 km[4] |
| Mass | 2×1013 kg[5] |
Mean density | 0.3 g/cm3[6] |
| Albedo | 0.03[7] |
| Perihelion distance at recent epochs[1] | |||||||
| Epoch | Perihelion (AU) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2028 | 1.310[2] | ||||||
| 2022 | 1.306 | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.349 | ||||||
| 2008 | 1.355 | ||||||
Comet Borrelly /bɒˈrɛli/orBorrelly's Comet (official designation: 19P/Borrelly) is a periodic comet, which was visited by the spacecraft Deep Space 1 in 2001. The comet last came to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on February 1, 2022[1][8] and will next come to perihelion on December 11, 2028.[2]
| Date & time of closest approach |
Earth distance (AU) |
Sun distance (AU) |
Velocity wrt Earth (km/s) |
Velocity wrt Sun (km/s) |
Uncertainty region (3-sigma) |
Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2028-Dec-05 19:12 ± 6 min | 0.413 AU (61.8 million km; 38.4 million mi; 161 LD) | 1.31 AU (196 million km; 122 million mi; 510 LD) | 17.3 | 33.3 | ± 41 thousand km | Horizons |
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.[9]
The comet was discovered by Alphonse Borrelly during a routine search for comets at Marseilles, France on December 28, 1904.
On September 21, 2001 the spacecraft Deep Space 1, 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 what were, at the time, the best images and other science data from a comet.
| Numbered comets | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous 18D/Perrine–Mrkos |
19P/Borrelly | Next 20D/Westphal |
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