C/1853 G1 (Schweizer)

C/1853 G1 (Schweizer)
Discovery
Discovered byKaspar Gottfried Schweizer
Discovery date5 April 1853
Designations
1853 II
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch27 May 1853 (JD 2398000.5)
Observation arc57 days
Number of
observations		80
Aphelion169 AU
Perihelion0.909 AU
Semi-major axis85 AU
Eccentricity0.9893
Orbital period781 years
Inclination122.20°
43.02°
Argument of
periapsis		199.23°
Last perihelion10 May 1853
TJupiter-0.567
Physical characteristics[2]
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		6
1
(1853 apparition)

C/1853 G1 (Schweizer) is a long period comet discovered by Kaspar Gottfried Schweizer on 5 April 1853. The comet has an orbital period of about 780 years and has been associated with two weak meteor showers.

Observational history

Kaspar Gottfried Schweizer found the comet near rho Aquilae while observing from Moscow and described it as small and round, about 3 arcminutes across, with no tail.[3] The comet then was moving towards Earth and thus was moving slowly in the sky. The closest approach to Earth took place on 29 April, at a distance of 0.084 AU. That day the comet moved 24 degrees in the sky.[2]

After that it appeared in the southern hemisphere. Its tail was reported to be up to 10 degrees long and the nucleus was as bright as a third or fourth magnitude star. On May 1 the comet was reported to be of first magnitude. The comet faded rapidly and by May it was no longer visible with naked eye. Perihelion took place on 10 May. The comet was last detected on 11 June 1853.[2]

Meteors

The minimum orbital intersection distance of the comet with Earth is 0.07 AU. The comet has been associated with the weak γ Aquilids meteor shower, which peaks on 4 May. [4] A second meteor shower associated with the comet is the 52 Herculids. That shower could be the same as the R Lyrids.[5]

References

  1. ^ "C/1853 G1 (Schweizer) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  2. ^ a b c G. W. Kronk (2003). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 2: 1800–1899. Cambridge University Press. pp. 218–221. ISBN 978-0-521-58505-7.
  3. ^ Schweizer, M. (8 April 1853). "Discovery of a New Comet". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 13 (6): 185. doi:10.1093/mnras/13.6.185.
  4. ^ D. Šegon; P. Gural; Z. Andreić; I. Skokić; K. Korlević; et al. (2014). "New showers from parent body search across several video meteor databases". WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization. 42 (2): 57–64. Bibcode:2014JIMO...42...57S. ISSN 1016-3115.
  5. ^ Neslušan, Luboš; Hajduková, Mária (11 October 2020). "The relationship between comet C/1853 G1 (Schweizer) and the γ-Aquilids and 52 Herculids meteor showers". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 498 (1): 1013–1022. doi:10.1093/mnras/staa2374.