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14P/Wolf

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14P/Wolf
14P/Wolf imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope on 17 September 2000
Discovery
Discovered byMax Wolf
Discovery siteHeidelberg, Germany
Discovery date17 September 1884
Designations
P/1884 S1, P/1891 J1
  • 1884 III, 1891 II
  • 1898 IV, 1912 I, 1918 V
  • 1925 X, 1934 I, 1942 VI
  • 1950 VI, 1959 II
  • 1967 XII, 1976 II
  • 1984 IX, 1992 XXII
Orbital characteristics[1][2]
Epoch5 May 2024 (JD 2460800.5)
Observation arc141.90 years[a]
Number of
observations		780
Aphelion5.775 AU
Perihelion2.738 AU
Semi-major axis4.256 AU
Eccentricity0.35669
Orbital period8.782 years
Inclination27.918°
202.03°
Argument of
periapsis		159.19°
Mean anomaly303.66°
Last perihelion1 December 2017
Next perihelion19 September 2026[3]
TJupiter2.716
Earth MOID1.75 AU (262 million km)
Jupiter MOID0.47 AU (70 million km)
Physical characteristics[4]
Mean radius
3.16±0.01 km
Mean density
0.32±0.02 g/cm3
9.02±0.01 hours[5]
  • (V–R) = 0.57±0.07
  • (R–I) = 0.51±0.06
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		15.6

14P/Wolf is a periodic comet roughly 6.32 km (3.93 mi) in diameter with an 8.78-year orbit around the Sun. It is the first of three comets discovered by German astronomer, Max Wolf.[b] The current orbit does not bring it closer than about 1.75 AU (262 million km) from Earth.[1] It will next come to perihelion on 19 September 2026, but will only brighten to about magnitude 19–20.[3]

Observational history

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Max Wolf discovered the comet from Heidelberg, Germany on 17 September 1884, about 15 days before it passed 0.8 AU (120 million km) from Earth. It was later rediscovered by, but not credited to, Ralph Copeland (Dun Echt Observatory, Aberdeen, Scotland) on September 23.[citation needed]

Orbit

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Perihelion distance
at different epochs[6]
EpochPerihelion
(AU)
18692.74
18781.57
19252.44
20092.72
20442.44
20682.62

Before approaching Jupiter in 1875, the comet had a perihelion of 2.74 AU (410 million km) and an orbital period of 8.84 years, and the approach dropped perihelion to 1.57 AU (235 million km).[6] An approach to Jupiter in September 1922 lifted perihelion to 2.43 AU (364 million km).[7] The current perihelion of 2.7 AU is from when the comet passed Jupiter on 13 August 2005. Another close approach to Jupiter on 10 March 2041 will return the comet to parameters similar to the period 1925–2000.[8]

Physical characteristics

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In 2005, the comet's nucleus is estimated to have an effective radius of 3.16±0.01 kilometers.[4] Follow-up observations in 2017 revealed that 14P/Wolf rotates around its axis once every 9.02±0.01 hours.[5]

Potential meteor shower

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In 1999, Dr. Luboš Neslušan published a study where he proposed that 14P/Wolf is potentially associated with two meteor streams, one overlapping with that of 206P/Barnard–Boattini[c] and the other coinciding with that of the Alpha Capricornids meteor shower.[9] However, the comet never went closer than 1.6 AU (240 million km) from the Earth[d] and thus is unlikely to be a parent body of any known meteor stream.[10] Later studies in 2010 and 2017 now conclude that 169P/NEAT and possibly 789058 (2017 MB1) were the parent bodies of the Alpha Capricornids.[10][11][12]

Notes

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  1. ↑ Observation arc from the Minor Planet Center database only covered dates from 20 September 1884 until 12 August 2026 (141.89 years). This figure included its entire arc up to 17 September 1884.
  2. ↑ His other comet discoveries were C/1916 G1 (Wolf) and 43P/Wolf–Harrington.
  3. ↑ At the time, 206P was considered a lost comet (D/1892 T1) and wasn't recovered until 2008.
  4. ↑ 14P/Wolf's closest encounters with Earth (1.6 AU) occurred during its multiple approaches with Jupiter between 1875 and 1922.

References

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  1. 1 2 "14P/Wolf – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  2. ↑ "14P/Wolf Orbit". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Horizons Batch for 14P/Wolf (90000244) on 2026-Sep-19" (Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons. Retrieved 25 September 2025. (Soln.date: 2025-Sep-22)
  4. 1 2 C. S. Snodgrass; A. Fitzsimmons; S. C. Lowry (2005). "The nuclei of comets 7P/Pons-Winnecke, 14P/Wolf and 92P/Sanguin" (PDF). Astronomy & Astrophysics. 444 (1): 287–295. arXiv:astro-ph/0509115v1. Bibcode:2005A&A...444..287S. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20053237. S2CID 119473563.
  5. 1 2 R. Kokotanekova; C. Snodgrass; P. Lacerda; S. F. Green; S. C. Lowry; et al. (2017). "Rotation of cometary nuclei: new light curves and an update of the ensemble properties of Jupiter-family comets". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 471 (3): 2974–3007. arXiv:1707.02133. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx1716.
  6. 1 2 Kinoshita, Kazuo (7 July 2018). "14P/Wolf past, present and future orbital elements". Comet Orbit. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  7. ↑ G. Sitarski; B. Todorovic-Juchniewicz (1994). "Linkage of all the apparitions of comet P/Wolf". Planetary & Space Science. 42 (2): 189–192. Bibcode:1994P&SS...42..189S. doi:10.1016/0032-0633(94)90031-0.
  8. ↑ Kronk, Gary W. "14P/Wolf". Retrieved 26 February 2018. (Cometography Home Page)
  9. ↑ L. Neslušan (1999). "Comets 14P/Wolf and D/1892 T1 as parent bodies of a common, alpha -Capricornids related, meteor stream". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 351: 752–758. Bibcode:1999A&A...351..752N.
  10. 1 2 P. Jenniskens; J. Vaubaillon (2010). "Minor Planet 2002 EX12 (=169P/NEAT) and the Alpha Capricornid Shower". The Astronomical Journal. 139 (5): 1822–1830. Bibcode:2010AJ....139.1822J. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/139/5/1822.
  11. ↑ T. Kasuga; D. D. Balam; P. A. Wiegert (2010). "Comet 169P/NEAT(=2002 EX12): The Parent Body of the α-Capricornid Meteoroid Stream". The Astronomical Journal. 140 (6): 1806–1813. Bibcode:2010AJ....140.1806K. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/140/6/1806.
  12. ↑ P. A. Wiegert; D. Clark; M. Campbell-Brown; P. Brown (August 2017). D. W. Green (ed.). "Minor Planet 2017 MB1 and the Alpha Capricornids Meteor Shower". Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams. 4415: 1. Bibcode:2017CBET.4415....1W.

Bibliography

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  • Kronk, Gary W.; Meyer, Maik; Seargent, David A. J. (2003). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 2: 1800–1899. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-58505-7.
  • Kronk, Gary W.; Meyer, Maik; Seargent, David A. J. (2007). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 3: 1900–1932. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-58506-4.
  • Kronk, Gary W.; Meyer, Maik; Seargent, David A. J. (2009). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 4: 1933–1959. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-58507-1.
  • Kronk, Gary W.; Meyer, Maik; Seargent, David A. J. (2010). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 5: 1960–1982. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-87226-3.
  • Kronk, Gary W.; Meyer, Maik; Seargent, David A. J. (2017). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 6: 1983–1993. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-87216-4.
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