D/1952 B 1 Harrington-Wilson

Forums Comets D/1952 B 1 Harrington-Wilson

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  • #573716
    Lars Lindhard
    Participant

    Has anyone seen this comet in 2017 and is there an ephemeris somewhere?

    Regards
    Lars Lindhard

    #578062
    Martin Mobberley
    Participant

    Hello Lars,

    I’ve not heard of it being recovered. It would be a major comet news item if it was, because it has been lost for a very long time. Guide 9 gives a perihelion date of 2017 Feb 27 but it’s pretty meaningless!

    I mentioned the 2017 ‘Defunct Comets’ at the end of this piece:

    https://www.britastro.org/node/8602

    Regards,

    Martin

    #578065
    Nick James
    Participant

    The attached ephemeris is from JPL Horizons however, as Martin says, the orbit is very uncertain and it isn’t likely to be near these locations.

    #578064
    Lars Lindhard
    Participant

    Hello Martin

    Thank you. It was in fact Guide 9 that brought the comet to my attention.

    I would like to know where to look for it if an ephemeris could be made.

    Regards
    Lars

    #578068
    Lars Lindhard
    Participant

    Thank you. It seems to be at bit more difficult than the promised mag. 9 in Guide 9.

    #578069
    Nick James
    Participant

    Yes, it was almost certainly in outburst when discovered back in 1952. Unlike today, there were very few people doing astrometry then so the orbit is based on only 7 position measurements over an arc of 26 days. That, and the fact that the orbit will have been changed by relatively close encounters with Jupiter mean that it is very unlikely to be recovered with a specific search. The fact that it has not been picked up by the big professional surveys means that it must be intrinsicly very faint. I’m not sure where Guide 9 gets its data from but it could do with being revised.

    #578071
    Lars Lindhard
    Participant

    I suppose Guide is using the same data as your ephemeris. The Guide position at 27. March 0.00 is off by 10 minutes in RA and 55′ in Dec. compared to your figures. No problem if the comet was mag 9 (and the ephemeris was valid).

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