6P/d'Arrest (also known as d'Arrest's Comet or Comet d'Arrest) is a

periodic Periodicity or periodic may refer to: Mathematics * Bott periodicity theorem, addresses Bott periodicity: a modulo-8 recurrence relation in the homotopy groups of classical groups * Periodic function, a function whose output contains values tha ...

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

in the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

, orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. It passed from the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

on August 12, 1976. The most recent

perihelion An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

passage took place on September 17, 2021, when the comet had a

solar elongation In astronomy, a planet's elongation is the angular separation between the Sun and the planet, with Earth as the reference point. The greatest elongation is the maximum angular separation. Astronomical tables and websites, such as Heavens-Abov ...

of 95 degrees at approximately

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the Irradiance, brightness of a star, astronomical object or other celestial objects like artificial satellites. Its value depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance, and any extinction (astronomy), ...

of 10. It was first observed by Heinrich Ludwig d'Arrest, in Leipzig, Germany, on 28th and 30 June 1851. In 1991, Andrea Carusi and Giovanni B. Valsecchi ( Istituto Astrofisica Spaziale, Rome), and

Ľubor Kresák Ľubor Kresák (23 August 1927 in Topoľčany – 20 January 1994 in Bratislava) was a Slovakia, Slovak astronomer. He discovered two comets: the periodic comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak and the non-periodic C/1954 M2 (Kresak-Peltier). He a ...

and Margita Kresáková ( Slovak Astronomical Institute, Bratislava) independently suggested this comet was the same as a comet observed by

Philippe de La Hire Philippe de La Hire (or Lahire, La Hyre or Phillipe de La Hire) (18 March 1640 – 21 April 1718)

in 1678. The comet came to

(closest approach to the Sun) on March 2, 2015, but it was in an unfavorable apparition as it had a solar elongation of less than 30 degrees from October 2014 until May 2015. The

comet nucleus The nucleus is the solid, central part of a comet, formerly termed a ''dirty snowball'' or an ''icy dirtball''. A cometary nucleus is composed of rock, dust, and frozen gases. When heated by the Sun, the gases sublime and produce an atmosphe ...

is estimated at 3.2 km in diameter. 6P/d was one of a trio of comets targeted by the ill-fated

CONTOUR Contour may refer to: * Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound * Pitch contour * Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system * Contour Airlines * Contour flying, a form of low level flight * Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tab ...

mission, an unmanned discovery program mission, that was launched but contact was lost soon after reaching orbit. If it had been functional, the planned date for CONTOUR's study of d'Arrest would have been 2008, after visiting two other comets. Around 2007, 6P/d was one of nine comets examined for a comet

sample return mission A sample-return mission is a spacecraft mission to collect and return samples from an extraterrestrial location to Earth for analysis. Sample-return missions may bring back merely atoms and molecules or a deposit of complex compounds such as lo ...

study. In the 2010s a comet surface sample return mission was selected as the

New Frontiers Program The New Frontiers program is a series of space exploration missions being conducted by NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the ...

finalist, but the recently studied

comet 67P A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or coma surrounding the nucleus, and ...

was chosen as the selected target.

References

External links

Orbital simulation
from JPL (Java)
Horizons Ephemeris

6P/d'Arrest at CometBase database

Elements and Ephemeris for 6P/d'Arrest
–

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Funct ...

6P/d'Arrest
– Seiichi Yoshida @ aerith.net

–

Gary W. Kronk Gary W. Kronk (born 1956) is an American amateur astronomer and writer. Biography Kronk was born in Granite City, Illinois, United States, on March 23, 1956. He developed an interest in space at an early age, during the time of the first crewed ...

's Cometography {{DEFAULTSORT:d'Arrest, 006P Periodic comets 0006 006P 006P 006P 18510628

See also

References

External links