Comet Swift–Tuttle
Sketch of the comet on 23 August 1862 by G. J. Chambers | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Lewis Swift Horace Parnell Tuttle |
| Discovery date | 16–19 July 1862 |
| Designations | |
| P/1737 N1; P/1862 O1 P/1992 S2 | |
| 1737 II; 1862 III; 1992 XXVIII | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 4 December 1995 (JD 2448960.5) |
| Observation arc | 257 years |
| Earliest precovery date | 69 BC |
| Number of observations | 652 |
| Aphelion | 51.225 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.9595 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 26.092 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.9632 |
| Orbital period | 133.28 years |
| Max. orbital speed | 42.6 km/s (26.5 mi/s) |
| Min. orbital speed | 0.8 km/s (0.50 mi/s) (2059-Dec-12) |
| Inclination | 113.45° |
| 139.44° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 153.00° |
| Last perihelion | 12 December 1992 |
| Next perihelion | 12 July 2126 |
| TJupiter | –0.280 |
| Earth MOID | 0.0009 AU (130,000 km; 84,000 mi) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 26 km (16 mi) |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 4.5 |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 8.5 |
| Orbital period at different passages | |||||||
| Perihelion date | Orbital period (years) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2392-09-16 | 132.7 | ||||||
| 2261-08-10 | 134.6 | ||||||
| 2126-07-12 | 136.2 | ||||||
| 1992-12-12 | 135.0 | ||||||
| 1862-08-23 | 131.7 | ||||||
| 1737-06-15 | 127.8 | ||||||
| 1610-02-06 | 130.5 | ||||||
| 1479-10-18 | 133.4 | ||||||
| 1348-05-02 | 135.0 | ||||||
Comet Swift–Tuttle (formally designated 109P/Swift–Tuttle) is a large periodic comet with a 1995 (osculating) orbital period of 133 years that is in a 1:11 orbital resonance with Jupiter. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet, which has an orbital period between 20 and 200 years. The comet was independently discovered by Lewis Swift on 16 July 1862 and by Horace Parnell Tuttle on 19 July 1862.
Its nucleus is 26 km (16 mi) in diameter. Swift–Tuttle is the parent body of the Perseid meteor shower, perhaps the best known shower and among the most reliable in performance.
The comet made a return appearance in 1992, when it was rediscovered by Japanese astronomer Tsuruhiko Kiuchi and became visible with binoculars. It was last observed in April 1995 when it was 8.6 AU (1.3 billion km) from the Sun. In 2126, it will be a bright naked-eye comet reaching an apparent magnitude of about 0.7.