C/1902 G1 (Brooks)
 Drawing of the comet C/1902 G1 by its discoverer, William Robert Brooks, on 15 April 1902.[1] | |
| Discovery[1][2] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | William R. Brooks |
| Discovery site | Smith Observatory |
| Discovery date | 15 April 1902 |
| Designations | |
| 1902 I, 1902a[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[4] | |
| Epoch | 7 May 1902 (JD 2415877.296) |
| Observation arc | 5 days |
| Number of observations | 9 |
| Perihelion | 0.444 AU |
| Eccentricity | ~1.000 |
| Inclination | 65.301° |
| 54.033° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 229.621° |
| Last perihelion | 7 May 1902 |
| Physical characteristics[5] | |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 11.7 |
| 8.5 (1902 apparition) | |
Comet Brooks, also known by its modern designation C/1902 G1, is a non-periodic comet that was only observed for five days in April 1902. Bright moonlight conditions and unfavorable weather conditions prevented additional observations of the comet.[6] As a result, orbital calculations for it were not sufficient to obtain a hyperbolic or near-parabolic orbit around the Sun.[5]
Orbit
[edit]Despite having a short observation arc of only five days, astronomers were still able to calculate a parabolic trajectory for the comet.[5] S. K. Winther and Robert Grant Aitken used positions recorded between 16–17 April 1902 to create a parabolic trajectory with a perihelion date of 6 May 1902.[6] At the same time, Armin Otto Leuschner and his colleagues calculated that the comet may have a 0.88-year elliptical orbit around the Sun, the shortest of any comet known,[7] where they also noted that it is probably the same object as C/1748 K1 (Klinkenberg),[8] however their calculations were later refuted.[5] Heinrich Kreutz, Elis Strömgren and S. Scharbe revised Aitken's calculations using positions up to 20 April 1902, concluding that the comet must have reached perihelion by 7 May 1902.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b W. R. Brooks (1902). "Discovery of Comet Brooks, 1902". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 62 (7): 527. Bibcode:1902MNRAS..62..524B. doi:10.1093/mnras/62.7.524.
- ^ W. R. Brooks (16 April 1902). E. C. Pickering (ed.). "Brooks's Comet 1902". Harvard College Bulletin. 98. Bibcode:1902BHarO..98....1P.
- ^ "Comet Names and Designations". International Comet Quarterly. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ "C/1902 G1 (Brooks) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ a b c d e G. W. Kronk (2007). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 3: 1900–1932. Cambridge University Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-0-521-58506-4.
- ^ a b R. G. Aitken; W. H. Hussey (1902). "Note on Comet Brooks" (PDF). Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 14 (84): 111–112. JSTOR 40668247.
- ^ A. O. Leuschner (2 May 1902). E. C. Pickering (ed.). "Brooks's Comet 1902". Harvard College Bulletin. 103. Bibcode:1902BHarO.103....1P.
- ^ "ORBIT OF THE BROOKS COMET: Believed to be Identical with That of Second Comet of 1748". The New York Times. 4 May 1902. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
External links
[edit]- C/1902 G1 at the JPL Small-Body Database
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