C/2007 Q3 (Siding Spring)
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Infrared image of C/2007 Q3 (Siding Spring) taken by WISE on 10 January 2010 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Donna M. Burton |
| Discovery site | Siding Spring, Australia 0.5-m Schmidt (E12) |
| Discovery date | 25 August 2007 |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 20 August 2009 (JD 2455063.5) |
| Observation arc | 4.02 years (1,470 days) |
| Number of observations | 1,333 |
| Orbit type | Oort cloud |
| Aphelion | ~69,000 AU (inbound) ~15,000 AU (outbound) |
| Perihelion | 2.252 AU |
| Semi-major axis | ~7,500 AU (outbound) |
| Eccentricity | 1.0002077 |
| Orbital period | 6.4 million years (inbound) ~650,000 years (outbound) |
| Inclination | 65.650° |
| 149.41° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 2.093° |
| Last perihelion | 7 October 2009 |
| TJupiter | 0.767 |
| Earth MOID | 1.262 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 3.129 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 8.6 |
| 8.7 (2009 apparition) | |
C/2007 Q3 (Siding Spring), is an Oort cloud comet that was discovered by Donna Burton in 2007 at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. Siding Spring came within 1.2 AU (180 million km) of Earth and 2.25 AU (337 million km) of the Sun on October 7, 2009. The comet was visible with binoculars until January 2010.