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177P/Barnard

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Comet 177P/Barnard, also known as Barnard 2, is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 122 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with (20 years < period < 200 years). It orbits near the ecliptic plane and has aphelion near the Kuiper cliff at .

Key facts

Comet.name
177P/Barnard
Comet.discoverer
Edward Emerson Barnard
Comet.discovery_date
June 24, 1889
Comet.designations
177P/1889 M1; 1889 III; 1889c; 177P/2006 M3
Comet.epoch
2013-Apr-18(JD 2456400.5)
Comet.semimajor
24.58 AU
Comet.perihelion
1.12 AU
Comet.aphelion
48.05 AU(47.74 AU in 2066)
Comet.eccentricity
0.954
Comet.period
122 yr
Comet.inclination
31.05°
Comet.last_p
August 28, 2006June 21, 1889
Comet.next_p
April 13, 2127

via Wikipedia infobox

~2 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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Comet 177P/Barnard, also known as Barnard 2, is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 122 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with (20 years < period < 200 years). It orbits near the ecliptic plane and has aphelion near the Kuiper cliff at .

The comet, also designated P/2006 M3, was discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard on June 24, 1889, and was re-discovered after 116 years. On July 19, 2006, 177P came within of Earth. From late July through September 2006 it was slightly brighter than expected at 8th magnitude in the constellations Hercules and then Draco. Perihelion was August 28, 2006. It was last observed in December 2006 when it was about from the Sun.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “177P/Barnard” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.