C/1969 T1 (Tago–Sato–Kosaka)
 Comet Tago–Sato–Kosaka photographed from Cerro Tololo on 30 December 1969 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Akihiko Tago Yasuo Sato Kozo Kosaka |
| Discovery site | Japan |
| Discovery date | 10 October 1969 |
| Designations | |
| 1969g[1] 1969 IX | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch | 21 January 1970 (JD 2440607.5) |
| Observation arc | 305 |
| Number of observations | 175 days |
| Aphelion | 12,804 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.4726 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 6,402.32 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.99992 |
| Orbital period | 512,288 years |
| Avg. orbital speed | 57.16 km/s |
| Max. orbital speed | 61.3 km/s |
| Inclination | 75.818° |
| 109.660° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 267.834° |
| Last perihelion | 21 December 1969 |
| TJupiter | 0.210 |
| Earth MOID | 0.0006 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 3.4637 AU |
| Physical characteristics[3] | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 6.5 |
| 3.5 (1970 apparition) | |
Comet Tago–Sato–Kosaka, formally designated as C/1969 T1, is a non-periodic comet that became visible in the naked eye between late 1969 and early 1970.[4] It was the first comet ever observed by an artificial satellite.
Discovery and observations
[edit]The comet was first discovered by Akihiko Tago, a resident of Tsuyama, on 16 October 1969 when he first spotted the comet as a diffuse magnitude 10 object from his 15 cm (5.9 in) reflector telescope. He reported his discovery to Tokyo about two days later. At the same time, two other independent discoveries were made by 19-year old Yasuo Sato of Nishinasuno, Tochigi and 17-year old Kozo Kosaka of Akasaka, Okayama.[4] Tago had previously co-discovered comet C/1968 H1 a year prior, and he and Sato had spent 344 and 182 hours respectively searching for new comets when they found this object.[5]
In the following days, the comet was observed and photographed by various observatories across Australia, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, and New Zealand, however its brightness remained constant throughout the month. The comet had only two observations in November due to its proximity to the Sun from Earth's perspective. Throughout December, the comet gradually brightened and slowly developed a tail, reaching about 4 degrees in length by the end of the year.[4]
Potential meteor shower
[edit]Due to the comet's very small minimum orbit intersection distance with Earth, both Zdenek Sekanina and Ichiro Hasegawa independently considered the possibility of a potential meteor shower originating from this comet, however no significant activity was observed.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ "Comet Names and Designations". International Comet Quarterly. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
- ^ "C/1969 T1 (Tago–Sato–Kosaka) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
- ^ "Brightest comets seen since 1935". International Comet Quarterly. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d G. W. Kronk (1999). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 5: 1960–1982. Cambridge University Press. pp. 245–250. ISBN 978-0-521-87226-3.
- ^ B. G. Marsden (1970). "Comets". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 11: 221–235. Bibcode:1970QJRAS..11..221M.
External links
[edit]- C/1969 T1 at the JPL Small-Body Database
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