C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR)
 Comet LINEAR and ι Draconis photographed from Mount Laguna, California on 11 July 2007 | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovery site | LINEAR |
| Discovery date | 13 November 2006 |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch | 13 June 2007 (JD 2454264.5) |
| Observation arc | 274 days |
| Number of observations | 1,025 |
| Perihelion | 1.015 AU |
| Eccentricity | 1.000249 |
| Inclination | 134.79° |
| 66.027° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 174.12° |
| Last perihelion | 10 August 2007 |
| Earth MOID | 0.0047 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 2.8204 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean radius | 0.723 km (0.449 mi)[a] |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 8.0[3] |
| 7.5 (2007 apparition) | |
C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR) is a non-periodic comet discovered by the LINEAR survey on 13 November 2006.
Discovery and observations
The object was initially believed to be an asteroid due to its stellar appearance in the early images.[1] However, observers soon detected a small coma and the telltale green cometary cast.[1]
The comet peaked at approximately magnitude +7.5,[4] much brighter than predicted.[5] The comet made its closest approach to Earth on 14 July 2007 at a distance of 0.575 AU (86.0 million km).[2] It reached perihelion on 10 August 2007 at a distance of 1.015 AU (151.8 million km).
Physical characteristics
Infrared measurements from the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) in July 2007 yielded a mean grain temperature of 275±5 K, which was 6 percent higher than the equivalent radiative equilibrium blackbody of the comet at its distance from the Sun, which was approximately 1.02 AU at the time.[6] Spectroscopic observations on the following month reveal that the comet's composition is depleted of carbon compounds, comparable to what was observed from 9P/Tempel.[7]
Notes
References
- 1 2 3 C. W. Hergenrother (4 December 2006). D. W. Green (ed.). "Comet C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR)". IAU Circular. 8781 (1). Bibcode:2006IAUC.8781....1H.
- 1 2 "C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
- 1 2 J. A. Fernández; A. Sosa (2012). "Magnitude and size distribution of long-period comets in Earth-crossing or approaching orbits". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 423 (2): 1674–1690. arXiv:1204.2285. Bibcode:2012MNRAS.423.1674F. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20989.x.
- ↑ S. Yoshida. "C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR)". www.aerith.net. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
- ↑ T. Flanders (10 July 2007). "Comet LINEAR Graces the Northern Sky". Sky & Telescope. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
- ↑ M. L. Sitko; L. Beerman; R. W. Russell; et al. (12 July 2007). D. W. Green (ed.). "Comet C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR)". IAU Circular. 8855 (2). Bibcode:2007IAUC.8855....2S.
- ↑ A. M. Gilbert; P. A. Wiegert; E. Unda-Sanzana; O. Vaduvescu (2010). "Spectroscopic observations of new Oort cloud comet 2006 VZ13 and four other comets" (PDF). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 401 (4): 2399–2405. arXiv:0910.0416. Bibcode:2010MNRAS.401.2399G. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15822.x.
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