C/1847 T1 (Mitchell) Explained

C/1847 T1 (Mitchell)
Discoverer:Maria Mitchell
Discovery Site:Nantucket, Massachusetts
Discovery Date:1 October 1847
Designations:Miss Mitchell's Comet
1847 VI
Epoch:26 October 1847
(JD 2395960.5)
Observation Arc:74 days
Obs:77
Perihelion:0.329 au
Eccentricity:1.000172
Inclination:108.13°
Asc Node:192.967°
Arg Peri:276.609°
Last P:14 November 1847

Miss Mitchell's Comet, formally designated as C/1847 T1, is a non-periodic comet that American astronomer Maria Mitchell discovered in 1847.

The discovery was initially credited to Francesco de Vico. Vico, observing from Rome, was the first to report the comet's discovery in Europe. However, Mitchell observed the comet two days before Vico did, so she became recognized as the comet's discoverer.

The comet had a weakly hyperbolic orbit solution while inside the planetary region of the Solar System. An orbit solution when the comet is outside of the planetary region shows that the comet is bound to the Sun.