96P/Machholz
Sign in to saveAlso known as 1986 J2; 1986 VIII; 1991 XII
Comet 96P/Machholz, also known as Machholz 1 is a periodic sunskirting comet discovered on 12 May 1986, by amateur astronomer Donald Machholz on Loma Prieta peak, in central California using binoculars. On 6 June 1986, 96P/Machholz passed from the Earth. 96P/Machholz last came to perihelion on January 31, 2023. The comet has an estimated diameter of around .
Key facts
- Comet.name
- 96P/Machholz
- Comet.image
- 96P 20070403 000500 HI1A.png
- Comet.caption
- Comet Machholz 1 as seen by the STEREO-A spacecraft in April 2007
- Comet.discoverer
- Donald E. Machholz
- Comet.discovery_site
- Loma Prieta, California
- Comet.discovery_date
- 12 May 1986
- Comet.mpc_name
- P/1986 J2
- Comet.epoch
- 21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5)
- Comet.observation_arc
- 38.17 years
- Comet.obs
- 1,559
- Comet.aphelion
- 5.946 AU
- Comet.semimajor
- 3.031 AU
- Comet.eccentricity
- 0.96173
- Comet.period
- 5.277 years
- Comet.inclination
- 57.586°
- Comet.asc_node
- 93.963°
- Comet.arg_peri
- 14.739°
- Comet.mean
- 191.35°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- near-Earth object
- Parent body
- Sun
- Child body
- Southern Delta Aquariids
- Diameter
- 6.4
- Orbital period
- 1931.306460842796
- Image
- 96P 20070403 000500 HI1A.png
Show 15 more facts
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.9591608428638698
- discoverer or inventor
- Donald Machholz
- Commons category
- 96P/Machholz
- provisional designation
- 1986e
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.035068595409598
- periapsis
- 0.1239496432868665
- apoapsis
- 5.946187547532331
- orbital inclination
- 58.13790031260349
- time of discovery or invention
- 1986-05-12
- time of periapsis
- 2458054.460930588
- absolute magnitude
- 13.7
- longitude of ascending node
- 94.25472309284206
- argument of periapsis
- 14.7928448266822
- mean anomaly
- 342.6718948496791
- epoch
- July 27, 2017
via Wikidata · CC0
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
12 sectionsContents
- Orbit
- Perihelion
- Observations
- 2001/02 perihelion
- 2007 perihelion
- 2012 perihelion
- 2017 perihelion
- 2023 perihelion
- Unusual composition
- Notes
- References
- External links
Comet 96P/Machholz, also known as Machholz 1 is a periodic sunskirting comet discovered on 12 May 1986, by amateur astronomer Donald Machholz on Loma Prieta peak, in central California using binoculars. On 6 June 1986, 96P/Machholz passed from the Earth. 96P/Machholz last came to perihelion on January 31, 2023. The comet has an estimated diameter of around .
This comet is the parent body of both the Kracht and Marsden sungrazer families.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “96P/Machholz” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.