The following is a list of
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 ...
s with a very high
eccentricity
Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to:
* Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal"
Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics
* Off-Centre (geometry), center, in geometry
* Eccentricity (g ...
(generally 0.99 or higher) and a
period of over 1,000 years that do not quite have a high enough
velocity
Velocity is a measurement of speed in a certain direction of motion. It is a fundamental concept in kinematics, the branch of classical mechanics that describes the motion of physical objects. Velocity is a vector (geometry), vector Physical q ...
to escape 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 ...
. Often, these comets, due to their extreme
semimajor axes and eccentricity, will have small orbital interactions with
planet
A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...
s and
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
s, most often ending up with the comets fluctuating significantly in their
orbital path. These comets probably come from the
Oort cloud, a cloud of comets orbiting the
Sun from ~10,000 to roughly 50,000
AU. The actual orbit of these comets significantly differs from the provided coordinates. A Solar System
barycentric orbit computed at an
epoch
In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured.
The moment of epoch is usually decided b ...
when the object is located beyond all the planets is a more accurate measurement of its long-term orbit.
List of near-parabolic comets
See also
*
List of comets by type
*
List of Halley-type comets
*
List of hyperbolic comets
This is a list of parabolic and hyperbolic comets in the Solar System. Many of these comets may come from the Oort cloud, or perhaps even have interstellar origin. The Oort Cloud is not gravitationally attracted enough to the Sun to form into ...
*
List of long-period comets
*
List of numbered comets
This is a list of periodic comets that were numbered by the Minor Planet Center after having been observed on at least two occasions. Their orbital periods vary from 3.2 to 366 years. there are 499 numbered comets (1P–499P). There are 405 Ju ...
*
List of periodic comets
Periodic comets (also known as short-period comets) are comets with orbital periods of less than 200 years or that have been observed during more than a single perihelion passage (e.g. 153P/Ikeya–Zhang). "Periodic comet" is also sometimes us ...
{{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System
near parabolic