C/1999 T1 (McNaught–Hartley) explained

C/1999 T1 (McNaught-Hartley)
Discoverer:Robert H. McNaught
Malcolm Hartley
Discovery Site:Siding Spring Observatory
Discovery Date:7 October 1999
Designations:Comet McNaught-Hartley
Epoch:2 December 2000 (JD 2451880.5)
Observation Arc:787 days (2.15 years)
Obs:661
Aphelion:16,247 AU
Perihelion:1.172 AU
Semimajor:8,124 AU
Eccentricity:0.99985
Period:732,246 years
Inclination:79.975°
Asc Node:182.483°
Arg Peri:344.758°
Tjup:0.234
Earth Moid:0.19397 AU
Jupiter Moid:3.41621 AU
M1:8.3
Rotation:1–10 days
Last P:13 December 2000

C/1999 T1 (McNaught–Hartley) is a near-parabolic long-period comet, discovered by Robert H. McNaught and Malcolm Hartley at the Siding Spring Observatory in 1999.

Observations

Comet McNaught–Hartley was a magnitude 15 object upon discovery on October 7, 1999. Gas emissions were measured in x-ray light by the Chandra observatory (alongside C/1999 S4 (LINEAR)) between 8–14 January 2001. Observations of its coma between January 26 and February 5, 2001 show that the nucleus has a rotation period between 1 and 10 days.

Encounter with the Ulysses probe

Research published in 2004 found that the Ulysses spacecraft had likely detected ions from the comet tail of C/1999 T1. This was the spacecraft's second encounter with a comet tail, after Comet Hyakutake in 1996.

See also