62P/Tsuchinshan (0062P)
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Type: Periodic
Perihelion date: 22 December 2023
Perihelion distance (q): 1.2
Aphelion distance (Q) : 5.5
Period (years): 6.1
Eccentricity (e): 0.63
Inclination (i): 4.8
JPL orbit diagram
COBS lightcurve
This was the first of two comets discovered at the Purple Mountain Observatory in
Nanking, China during early January of 1965. It was first found on a photograph
obtained on 1 January 1965. The comet was then in Gemini and the total magnitude
was given as 15. The announcement was delayed for several weeks, and the first
observation outside of China did not occur until 9 February when Philip Veron
(Palomar Observatory, California, USA) photographed the comet.
G. Sitarski prepared a prediction for the comet's 1971 return which indicated a
perihelion date of 18 September. On 20 December 1971 Elizabeth Roemer and L. M.
Vaughn recovered the comet. The resulting precise position indicated Sitarski's
prediction required a correction of -1.53 days. Roemer and Vaughn determined the
comet's nuclear magnitude as 20.3. When last seen on 10 March 1972 the nucleus
had faded to magnitude 21.4.
Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude)
Date
10x10 mag
Error
VEmag
Coma '
16-Nov-17
15.10
0.03
12.0
2.5
15-Dec-17
14.86
0.03
11.7
5.9
25-Dec-17
15.41
0.02
12.3
3.8
20-Jan-18
15.91
0.06
12.7
1.9
14-Feb-18
16.99
0.03
14.0
0.9
21-Feb-18
17.27
0.03
14.1
0.9
11-Mar-18
17.64
0.06
14.3
0.7
20-Mar-18
17.46
0.03
14.3
0.8
06-Apr-18
18.01
0.04
15.7
0.5
19-Apr-18
18.31
0.04
15.1
0.4
02-May-18
18.73
0.07
17.1
0.2
16-Nov-23
9.5
9.6
12-Dec-23
8.2
15.4
17-Dec-23
8.2
15.2
04-Feb-24
8.4
13.0
14-Feb-24
8.9
11.7
20-Feb-24
10.1
5.5
03-Mar-24
9.8
8.8
11-Mar-24
10.0
10.0
16-Mar-24
10.3
9.0
01-Apr-24
11.4
6.8
28-Apr-24
13.8
3.0
05-May-24
14.7
2.3
11-May-24
15.5
1.5
25-May-24
19.0
0.4
31-May-24
19.4
0.4