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Comet Arend or 50P/Arend is a periodic comet in the Solar System which was discovered on October 4, 1951. It was discovered by astronomer Sylvain Julien Victor Arend at the Royal Observatory of Belgium located in the municipality of Uccle. The comet was illustrated at approximately a magnitude of 14 and also exhibited a nucleus within a coma 14 arc seconds across. It has been observed on its every subsequent apparition since discovery, with the most recent one occurred in 2024. The comet's next perihelion will be in the year 2032.

Key facts

Comet.name
50P/Arend
Comet.image
Comet Arend 1951j.jpg
Comet.caption
Comet 50P/Arend photographed by George van Biesbroeck on 4 November 1951
Comet.discoverer
Sylvian Arend
Comet.discovery_date
4 October 1951
Comet.mpc_name
P/1951 T1, P/1959 N1
Comet.epoch
21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5)
Comet.aphelion
6.252 AU
Comet.perihelion
1.922 AU
Comet.semimajor
4.087 AU
Comet.eccentricity
0.5297
Comet.period
8.26a
Comet.inclination
19.100°
Comet.albedo
0.04 (assumed)
Comet.M1
13.9
Comet.last_p
12 May 2024
Comet.next_p
7 August 2032

via Wikipedia infobox

~2 min read

Encyclopedic overview

3 sections
Contents
  • Observations
  • References
  • External links

Comet Arend or 50P/Arend is a periodic comet in the Solar System which was discovered on October 4, 1951. It was discovered by astronomer Sylvain Julien Victor Arend at the Royal Observatory of Belgium located in the municipality of Uccle. The comet was illustrated at approximately a magnitude of 14 and also exhibited a nucleus within a coma 14 arc seconds across. It has been observed on its every subsequent apparition since discovery, with the most recent one occurred in 2024. The comet's next perihelion will be in the year 2032.

== Observations == 50P/Arend was observed at its brightest at a maximum magnitude of 14 when it was discovered in 1951. At the comet's next apparition on September 1, 1959, did not exceed 17 if it had not been for an outburst in November which affected its brightness to magnitude 15.5. The observed orbital period was 7.8 years at the time of its discovery however at each succeeding perihelion has led to less favorable observations due to its 0.64 astronomical units (AU) as it approached Jupiter in 1969, even if its maximum magnitude was 15. This approach also led to the comet's orbital period to increase to 8.0 years.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “50P/Arend” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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