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49P/Arend–Rigaux

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49P/Arend–Rigaux is a periodic comet with a 6.75-year orbit around the Sun. It is the first of three comets discovered by Belgian astronomer Sylvain Arend and the only one for Fernand Rigaux.

Key facts

Comet.name
49P/Arend–Rigaux
Comet.image
Comet Arend–Rigaux.jpg
Comet.caption
Comet Arend–Rigaux imaged by George van Biesbroeck from the Yerkes Observatory on 10 February 1951.
Comet.discoverer
Sylvain ArendFernand Rigaux
Comet.discovery_site
Royal Observatory of Belgium
Comet.discovery_date
5 February 1951
Comet.mpc_name
P/1951 C2, P/1958 B1
Comet.epoch
5 May 2025 (JD 2460800.5)
Comet.observation_arc
74.31 years
Comet.earliest_precovery_date
8 January 1951
Comet.obs
4,700
Comet.perihelion
1.431 AU
Comet.aphelion
5.709 AU
Comet.semimajor
3.570 AU
Comet.eccentricity
0.59906
Comet.period
6.745 years
Comet.inclination
19.059°
Comet.asc_node
118.79°

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Named after
Fernand Rigaux
Parent body
Sun
Diameter
8.48
Orbital period
2456.112976148325
Image
Comet Arend–Rigaux.jpg
Show 17 more facts
discoverer or inventor
Fernand Rigaux
time of discovery or invention
1951-02-05
site of astronomical discovery
Royal Observatory of Belgium
provisional designation
1951b
absolute magnitude
14.3
albedo
0.028
rotation period
13.45
time of periapsis
2455853.5788903446
orbital eccentricity
0.6003391501079076
semi-major axis of an orbit
3.562596266781848
periapsis
1.423830251804429
apoapsis
5.701362281759268
orbital inclination
19.05041403558801
longitude of ascending node
118.8764387654911
argument of periapsis
332.7905343593407
mean anomaly
3.359606786257037
Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

~3 min read

Encyclopedic overview

12 sections
Contents
  • Observational history
  • Discovery
  • Physical characteristics
  • Nucleus size
  • Rotation
  • Other features
  • Orbit
  • References
  • Notes
  • Citations
  • Bibliography
  • External links

49P/Arend–Rigaux is a periodic comet with a 6.75-year orbit around the Sun. It is the first of three comets discovered by Belgian astronomer Sylvain Arend and the only one for Fernand Rigaux.

== Observational history == === Discovery === While on a routine search for new asteroids in the sky, Sylvain Arend and Fernand Rigaux discovered a new comet on the night of 5 February 1951. It was a diffuse 11th-magnitude object within the constellation Canis Minor.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “49P/Arend–Rigaux” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.