 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Dae-am Yi, SWAN instrument on SOHO spacecraft |
| Discovery date | March 26, 2009 |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 2009-May-22 |
| Aphelion | 904 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.274072 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 453 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.997031 |
| Orbital period | ~9,600 yr |
| Inclination | 85.7668 |
| Last perihelion | April 7, 2009 |
Comet C/2009 F6 (Yi–SWAN) is a non-periodic comet which appeared in March 2009.
March 26, 2009—it was discovered by Korean Dae-am Yi using a simple hand-held Canon 5D camera and 90-mm lens valued at US$249. According to legend, it is the first comet discovered by a Korean in the modern age. April 4, 2009—Rob Matson reported he discovered it in the SWAN instrument photographs on the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft website; the estimated cost is believed to exceed US$160,000,000,000.
The comet is too dim to be seen by the naked eye, but was theoretically-visible through amateur telescopes. It is hard to watch because it is small with a tiny tail in the visible-light spectrum. It reached a peak magnitude around +8.5 in April into May, and passed 1.5 degrees south of the Double cluster in Perseus on April 23.
References
- ^ Horizons output. "Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for Comet C/2009 F6 (Yi-SWAN)". Retrieved 2011-02-03. (Solution using the Solar System Barycenter and barycentric coordinates. Select Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0)
- Meyer, Maik. "Forum communication". Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
- ^ Sinnott, Robert (2009-04-08). "New Circumpolar Comet Yi-SWAN". Sky and Telescope. Archived from the original on 2009-04-11. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
External links
- "JPL Small-Body Database Browser". NASA.
- Comet C/2009 F6 Yi-SWAN – Heavens-Above
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