TypePeriodicPerihelion Date27 January 2018Perihelion Distance (q)3.5 Aphelion Distance (Q)4.8 Period (Years)8.5 Eccentricity (e)0.15 Inclination (i)6.7 Click for NASA orbit diagram
Hills Observatory: 1 January 2013 to 19 January 2019
The comet fits the definition of an Encke-type comet with (TJupiter > 3; a < aJupiter) and is a Quasi-Hilda comet. It was discovered in late March 1975 by Tamara Mikhajlovna Smirnova while examining exposures from the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. In the discovery images the comet had an apparent magnitude of ~15. In the year of discovery, the comet came to perihelion on August 6, 1975.The comet had been photographed during 1967, but was identified as an asteroid and assigned the designation 1967 EU.The comet is estimated at about 4.46 km in diameter and currently has an orbit contained completely inside of the orbit of Jupiter.Date10x10 magErrorKphot magComa '31 Jul 1319.280.1318.80.217-Aug-1519.510.1319.30.225-Aug-1519.230.1319.00.208-Sep-1519.150.0818.10.216-Sep-1519.050.1018.80.223-Sep-1519.030.0718.90.220-Oct-1518.560.0618.10.203-Nov-1518.260.0317.90.213-Nov-1518.050.0817.50.219-Nov-1517.790.0915.60.202-Dec-1518.010.0217.40.209-Dec-1518.120.0417.70.216-Dec-1518.070.0517.60.221-Feb-1618.400.1017.80.207-Nov-1616.050.0116.00.227-Nov-1617.370.0416.60.210-Dec-1617.200.0516.80.221-Dec-1617.040.0216.50.227-Dec-1616.900.0216.40.304-Jan-1716.710.0216.20.317-Jan-1716.750.0115.90.315-Feb-1717.000.0116.10.202-Mar-1716.500.0216.20.212-Apr-1717.320.0316.50.215-Dec-1717.400.1115.40.426-Dec-1717.290.0416.50.413-Jan-1817.150.0116.40.423-Jan-1816.900.0215.90.515-Feb-1816.630.0315.70.511-Mar-1816.380.0115.50.720-Mar-1816.280.0314.90.806-Apr-1816.470.0215.50.419-Apr-1816.610.0115.40.606-Jan-1917.88 0.08 16.50.4