174P/Echeclus (0174P)
TRY AGAIN 2045
Type: Periodic
Perihelion date: 26 April 2015
Perihelion distance (q): 5.8
Aphelion distance (Q) : 15.6
Period (years): 35.1
Eccentricity (e): 0.46
Inclination (i): 4.3
JPL orbit diagram
COBS lightcurve
The comet was discovered on 2000 March 3.41 by J. V. Scotti, A. E. Gleason, J. L.
Montani, M. T. Read (SPACEWATCH, Steward Observatory, Kitt Peak). They gave
the magnitude as 21.0 and noted a stellar appearance. It was reported as a minor
planet and received the preliminary minor planet designation "2000 EC98", a centaur
in the outer Solar System. This object was later given the name "Echeclus" and was
given an official minor planet number of 60558.
Y. J. Choi and P. R. Weissman (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California, USA) observed
this object with the 5-m reflector and the Large Format Camera at Palomar
Observatory (California, USA) on 30 December 2005. A 600-second R-band
exposure revealed a coma extending about 20 arc seconds from the nuclear
condensation. The total magnitude was then given as 17.5. Choi obtained a
confirming observation on 2006 January 1, while D. Polishook (Wise Observatory)
obtained a confirming observation on January 2. The object then received the
designation P/2000 EC98, and was later officially designated as periodic comet 174P.
60558 Echeclus is only the second comet (after Chiron) that was named as an
asteroid, rather than after the name of its discoverer. Chiron is also a centaur; other
centaurs are being observed for signs of a cometary coma.
Besides Chiron, three other objects are cross-listed as both comets and asteroids:
•
7968 Elst- Pizarro (133P/Elst-Pizarro)
•
4015 Wilson-Harrington (107P/Wilson-Harrington)
•
118401 LINEAR (176P/LINEAR)
On 30 December 2005, when 13.1 AU from the Sun, a large chunk of Echeclus was
observed to break off, causing a great cloud of dust. Astronomers have speculated
this could have been caused by an impact or by an explosive release of volatile
substances. Echeclus appears to have outburst again around June 2011 when it was
8.5 AU from the Sun. On 24 June 2011, follow up imaging with the 2 meter
Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope South showed the coma of Echeclus to be very close
to the sky background limit.
Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude)
Date
10x10 mag
Error
VEmag
Coma '
19-Mar-14
17.56
0.17
21-Mar-14
17.06
0.08
16.9
0.2
29-Mar-14
17.86
0.14
17.9
0.2
03-Apr-14
17.80
0.12
17.8
0.2
18-Apr-14
17.77
0.17
17.5
0.2
24-Apr-14
17.73
0.10
17.1
0.2
26-Apr-14
17.81
0.08
17.5
0.2
29-Apr-14
17.73
0.09
17.7
0.2
02-May-14
17.60
0.08
17.4
0.2
06-May-14
17.72
0.11
17.7
0.2
14-May-14
17.65
0.06
17.5
0.2
16-May-14
17.46
0.04
17.2
0.2
29-May-14
17.53
0.07
17.4
0.2
05-Jun-14
17.40
0.10
17.4
0.2
09-Jun-14
17.35
0.09
17.3
0.2
19-Jun-14
17.37
0.06
17.3
0.2
25-Jun-14
17.21
0.05
17.1
0.2
28-Jun-14
17.23
0.05
17.2
0.2
02-Jul-14
17.18
0.05
17.1
0.2
10-Jul-14
17.01
0.06
17.0
0.2
17-Jul-14
16.90
0.03
15.4
0.2
25-Jul-14
16.89
0.04
16.9
0.2
28-Jul-14
16.75
0.04
16.7
0.2
30-Jul-14
16.76
0.05
16.7
0.2
03-Aug-14
16.73
0.04
16.6
0.2
07-Aug-14
16.69
0.06
16.6
0.2
14-Aug-14
16.72
0.02
16.6
0.2
20-Aug-14
16.75
0.03
16.5
0.2
22-Aug-14
16.82
0.04
16.6
0.2
24-Aug-14
16.81
0.04
16.0
0.2
26-Aug-14
16.84
0.05
16.2
0.2
30-Aug-14
16.93
0.02
16.4
0.2
01-Sep-14
16.90
0.05
16.5
0.2
11-Sep-14
17.02
0.07
15.6
0.2
13-Sep-14
17.06
0.06
17.0
0.2
17-Sep-14
17.14
0.07
17.1
0.2
21-Sep-14
17.23
0.07
17.2
0.2
27-Sep-14
17.31
0.04
17.3
0.2
29-Sep-14
17.05
0.06
17.0
0.2
08-Oct-14
17.38
0.06
17.4
0.2
15-Oct-14
17.51
0.05
17.5
0.2
17-Oct-14
17.48
0.06
17.5
0.2
19-Oct-14
17.55
0.19
17.4
0.2
21-Oct-14
17.46
0.21
17.4
0.2
23-Oct-14
17.42
0.11
17.4
0.2
25-Oct-14
17.51
0.04
17.5
0.2
27-Oct-14
17.50
0.10
17.5
0.2
07-Nov-14
17.68
0.14
17.6
0.2
12-Nov-14
17.59
0.07
17.5
0.2
16-Nov-14
17.63
0.08
17.6
0.2
21-Nov-14
17.65
0.09
17.6
0.2
25-Nov-14
17.41
0.05
17.1
0.2
01-Dec-14
17.54
0.12
17.1
0.2
03-Dec-14
17.59
0.24
19-Apr-15
17.65
0.11
17.5
0.2
21-Apr-15
17.67
0.18
17.5
0.2
17-May-15
17.64
0.11
17.5
0.2
11-Jun-15
17.37
0.19
15.4
0.2
26-Jun-15
17.36
0.19
16.5
0.2
19-Jul-15
17.24
0.12
16.9
0.2
22-Jul-15
17.27
0.07
17.2
0.2
08-Aug-15
16.89
0.02
16.8
0.2
15-Aug-15
17.06
0.02
16.7
0.2
17-Aug-15
16.99
0.01
16.7
0.2
20-Aug-15
17.08
0.01
17.0
0.2
24-Aug-15
17.04
0.02
16.8
0.2
05-Sep-15
16.69
0.01
16.5
0.2
07-Sep-15
16.79
0.01
16.5
0.2
09-Sep-15
16.54
0.01
16.3
0.2
12-Sep-15
16.53
0.01
16.4
0.2
16-Sep-15
16.62
0.01
16.1
0.2
19-Sep-15
16.63
0.02
16.3
0.2
21-Sep-15
16.69
0.01
16.5
0.2
22-Sep-15
16.68
0.05
16.1
0.2
07-Oct-15
16.93
0.01
16.9
0.2
08-Oct-15
17.04
0.02
16.0
0.2
19-Oct-15
17.18
0.01
17.0
0.2
30-Oct-15
17.39
0.02
17.3
0.2
02-Nov-15
16.77
0.01
16.7
0.2
04-Nov-15
17.40
0.01
17.3
0.2
07-Nov-15
17.38
0.02
17.3
0.2
09-Nov-15
17.39
0.03
17.3
0.2
12-Nov-15
17.50
0.02
17.1
0.2
16-Nov-15
17.46
0.03
15.7
0.2
09-Dec-15
17.82
0.13
17.6
0.2
11-Dec-15
17.73
0.03
17.6
0.2
26-Aug-16
17.72
0.05
n/a
n/a
30-Aug-16
15.21
0.01
14.7
0.3
02-Sep-16
15.73
0.01
14.8
0.5
06-Sep-16
16.17
0.02
14.8
0.8
07-Sep-16
16.22
0.01
14.8
0.7
10-Sep-16
16.50
0.01
14.5
0.8
13-Sep-16
16.63
0.02
14.4
0.4
25-Sep-16
16.75
0.04
13.4
0.6
28-Sep-16
16.89
0.01
13.7
0.6
04-Oct-16
16.80
0.02
15.0
0.4
07-Oct-16
17.00
0.01
15.0
0.2
28-Oct-16
17.26
0.10
17.0
0.2
30-Oct-16
17.13
0.00
15.6
0.2
04-Nov-16
17.24
0.01
16.1
0.2
22-Nov-16
17.51
0.05
14.9
0.2
26-Nov-16
17.50
0.03
17.1
0.2
18-Dec-16
17.89
0.04
17.4
0.2
26-Dec-16
17.99
0.16
17.2
0.2
17-Jan-17
18.29
0.06
17.0
0.2
22-Jan-17
18.28
0.07
17.7
0.2
25-Jan-17
18.04
0.06
17.1
0.2
13-Feb-17
18.32
0.12
18.0
0.2
16-Feb-17
18.17
0.10
17.7
0.2
03-Jul-17
18.06
0.11
17.2
0.2
26-Jul-17
18.21
0.03
17.8
0.2
20-Aug-17
18.71
0.13
18.2
0.2
24-Aug-17
18.42
0.12
17.3
0.2
28-Aug-17
18.45
0.08
18.3
0.2
04-Sep-17
18.10
0.04
16-Sep-17
18.01
0.05
17.5
0.2
28-Sep-17
17.81
0.02
17.7
0.2
01-Oct-17
17.87
0.05
17.6
0.2
17-Oct-17
17.79
0.04
17.6
0.2
21-Oct-17
17.86
0.18
16.8
0.2
24-Oct-17
17.87
0.06
17.7
0.2
12-Nov-17
17.69
0.05
17.5
0.2
14-Nov-17
17.55
0.15
17.0
0.3
21-Nov-17
17.48
0.03
17.3
0.2
19-Dec-17
15.70
0.01
12.8
1.2
24-Dec-17
16.34
0.04
13.3
1.7
03-Jan-18
16.98
0.02
14.0
2.0
14-Jan-18
17.39
0.03
14.3
1.5
21-Jan-18
17.60
0.02
14.7
0.8
15-Feb-18
18.22
0.03
14.9
0.5
18-Feb-18
18.15
0.02
15.0
0.7
15-Mar-18
18.21
0.13
16.5
0.5
23-Aug-18
19.31
0.16
19.1
0.2
07-Sep-18
18.84
0.10
18.6
0.2
06-Oct-18
18.62
0.06
18.1
0.2
11-Oct-18
18.30
0.13
18.0
0.2
15-Oct-18
18.57
0.05
18.5
0.2
21-Oct-18
18.67
0.03
18.5
0.2
30-Oct-18
18.43
0.03
18.3
0.2
08-Nov-18
18.59
0.05
18.6
0.2
15-Nov-18
18.31
0.02
18.2
0.2
18-Nov-18
18.43
0.10
18.3
0.2
27-Nov-18
18.47
0.04
18.0
0.2
01-Dec-18
18.55
0.11
18.3
0.2
03-Dec-18
18.49
0.03
18.4
0.2
06-Dec-18
18.34
0.08
18.3
0.2
10-Dec-18
18.54
0.02
18.1
0.2
16-Dec-18
18.55
0.03
17.8
0.2
24-Dec-18
18.56
0.07
18.5
0.2
01-Jan-19
18.64
0.02
18.6
0.2
04-Jan-19
18.79
0.04
18.6
0.2
08-Jan-19
18.79
0.03
18.5
0.2
13-Jan-19
18.79
0.06
18.6
0.2
30-Aug-19
19.73
0.09
18.8
0.2
10-Sep-19
19.25
0.11
18.8
0.2
01-Oct-19
19.38
0.06
19.0
0.2
10-Oct-19
19.29
0.04
19.2
0.2
28-Oct-19
19.08
0.06
n/a
n/a
03-Nov-19
19.07
0.05
19.0
0.2
20-Nov-19
19.08
0.07
18.9
0.2
23-Nov-19
19.00
0.04
19.0
0.2
26-Nov-19
18.86
0.05
18.8
0.2
19-Dec-19
18.85
0.04
18.7
0.2
22-Dec-19
19.04
0.05
19.0
0.2
26-Dec-19
18.96
0.14
18.6
0.2
29-Dec-19
19.14
0.07
19.1
0.2
02-Jan-20
19.04
0.05
18.9
0.2
13-Jan-20
19.22
0.05
19.2
0.2
16-Jan-20
19.55
0.05
18.9
0.2
31-Jan-20
19.37
0.04
19.2
0.2
11-Feb-20
19.33
0.08
19.2
0.2
15-Feb-20
19.47
0.19
19.3
0.2
11-Mar-20
19.87
0.11
19.4
0.2
14-Mar-20
19.79
0.18
19.8
0.2
19-Nov-20
18.8
0.4
23-Dec-20
19.5
0.4
30-Oct-22
20.6
0.4