12P/Pons–Brooks
Sign in to saveAlso known as Pons-Brooks comet, comet Pons-Brooks
Comet Pons–Brooks is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 71 years. Comets with an orbital period of 20–200 years are referred to as Halley-type comets. It is one of the brightest known periodic comets, reaching an absolute visual magnitude of about 5 in its approach to perihelion. Comet Pons–Brooks was conclusively discovered at Marseilles Observatory in July 1812 by Jean-Louis Pons, and on its next appearance in 1883 by William Robert Brooks. However it has been confirmed 12P/Pons–Brooks was observed before the 19th century.
Key facts
- Comet.name
- 12P/Pons–Brooks
- Comet.image
- Pons brooks.jpg
- Comet.caption
- 12P/Pons–Brooks photographed on 7 March 2024
- Comet.discoverer
- Jean-Louis PonsWilliam Robert Brooks
- Comet.discovery_date
- 12 July 1812
- Comet.epoch
- 5 May 2025 (JD 2460800.5)
- Comet.observation_arc
- 680–1,780 years
- Comet.obs
- 8,322
- Comet.perihelion
- 0.781 AU
- Comet.aphelion
- 33.669 AU
- Comet.semimajor
- 17.225 AU
- Comet.period
- 71.491 years
- Comet.eccentricity
- 0.95466
- Comet.inclination
- 74.190°
- Comet.asc_node
- 255.86°
- Comet.arg_peri
- 199.01°
- Comet.mean
- 5.223°
- Comet.tjup
- 0.598
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- near-Earth object
- Named after
- Jean-Louis Pons
- Parent body
- Sun
- Orbital period
- 26020.73089961969
- Image
- Pons brooks.jpg
- Significant event
- perihelion
Show 16 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Jean-Louis Pons
- Commons category
- 12P/Pons–Brooks
- time of discovery or invention
- 1812-07-21
- provisional designation
- 1953c
- absolute magnitude
- 5.0
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.9545612442754914
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 17.18491452308093
- periapsis
- 0.780861133160835
- apoapsis
- 33.58896791300104
- orbital inclination
- 74.19091017602224
- longitude of ascending node
- 255.8553510791566
- argument of periapsis
- 198.9879994752779
- mean anomaly
- 357.0928096634814
- time of periapsis
- 2460421.6311595016
- epoch
- September 24, 2023
- site of astronomical discovery
- Marseille
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
15 sectionsContents
- Observational history
- Before 1812
- 1812 discovery
- 1884
- 1954
- 2024
- Orbit
- Physical characteristics
- Nucleus size
- Rotation period
- Meteor showers
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
Comet Pons–Brooks is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 71 years. Comets with an orbital period of 20–200 years are referred to as Halley-type comets. It is one of the brightest known periodic comets, reaching an absolute visual magnitude of about 5 in its approach to perihelion. Comet Pons–Brooks was conclusively discovered at Marseilles Observatory in July 1812 by Jean-Louis Pons, and on its next appearance in 1883 by William Robert Brooks. However it has been confirmed 12P/Pons–Brooks was observed before the 19th century.
The last perihelion passage was 21 April 2024, with closest approach to Earth being on 2 June 2024. During the 2024 apparition the comet brightened to a magnitude of 3.8.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “12P/Pons–Brooks” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.