For other comets discovered by Malcolm Hartley, see Comet Hartley.
110P/Hartley
DiscovererMalcolm Hartley
Discovery siteUK Schmidt Telescope
Discovery date19 February 1988
Mpc nameP/1988 D1
P/1993 M1
Designations
  • Hartley 3
  • 1987 XII, 1994 XII
  • 1988d, 1993m
Epoch25 February 2023 (JD 2460000.5)
Observation arc35.23 years
Obs3,998
Perihelion2.455 AU
Aphelion4.752 AU
Semimajor3.604 AU
Period6.841 years
Eccentricity0.31870
Inclination11.705°
Asc node287.52°
Arg peri167.46°
Mean71.255°
Tjup2.990
Earth moid1.483 AU
Jupiter moid0.478 AU
Mean radius2.31 ± 0.03 km
Density0.13 ± 0.02 g/cm3
Rotation10.153 ± 0.001 hours
M 14.3
M 213.3
Last p18 October 2021
Next p28 August 2028[1]

Comet Hartley 3 is a periodic comet with a six-year orbit around the Sun. It is one of ten comets discovered by Australian astronomer, Malcolm Hartley.

Observational history

Discovery

The comet appeared as a weak trail at magnitude 16.5 on the edge of its discovery plates, which were taken from the UK Schmidt Telescope of the Siding Spring Observatory.[2] By 22 February, Hartley confirmed his discovery using the same telescope, and found a tail about 10 arcminutes in length.[3] From the Palomar Observatory, both Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker found two precovery images of the comet about 4.8 hours before its official discovery.[4] By then, it was determined that Hartley's find is definitely a short-period comet.[4]

Follow-up observations

Six observatories around the globe made observations of Hartley 3 in March 1988, including those made by Tsutomu Seki, Robert H. McNaught, James V. Scotti, and David H. Levy.[2] By April 1988, revised orbital calculations by Brian G. Marsden indicated that the comet completes an elliptical orbit once every 6.85 years.[5]

Hartley 3 was successfully recovered by James V. Scotti using the Spacewatch telescope of the Kitt Peak Observatory on 23 June 1993.[6]

Physical characteristics

Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004 and 2011 revealed that the effective radius of its nucleus is around 2.15 ± 0.04 km and a rotation period of 9.4 ± 1.0 hours.[7][8] Later ground observations from Pan-STARRS and other sky surveys revised the radius and rotation periods to 2.31 ± 0.03 km and 10.153 ± 0.001 hours, respectively.[9]

References

Citations

  1. ^ S. Yoshida. "110P/Hartley". www.aerith.net. Archived from the original on 17 March 2025. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
  2. ^ Kronk, Meyer & Seargent 2017, p. 349.
  3. ^ M. Hartley & R. H. McNaught (23 February 1988). "Comet Hartley (1988d)". IAU Circular. 4553 (1). D. W. Green (ed.). Bibcode:1988IAUC.4553....1H
  4. ^ C. S. Shoemaker; E. M. Shoemaker; M. Hartley; R. H. McNaught (1 March 1988). "Periodic Comet Hartley (1988d)". IAU Circular. 4558 (1). D. W. Green (ed.). Bibcode:1988IAUC.4558....1S
  5. ^ B. G. Marsden (4 April 1988). "Periodic Comet Hartley (1988d)". IAU Circular. 4576 (2). Bibcode:1988IAUC.4576....2M
  6. ^ J. V. Scotti (29 June 1993). "Periodic Comet Hartley (1993m)". IAU Circular. 5826 (1). D. W. Green (ed.). Bibcode:1993IAUC.5826....1S
  7. ^ P. L. Lamy; I. Toth; Y. R. Fernández; H. A. Weaver (2004). "The Sizes, Shapes, Albedos, and Colors of Cometary Nuclei". Comets II. University of Arizona Press. pp. 223–264. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1v7zdq5.22. ISBN 978-0-8165-2450-1. JSTOR j.ctv1v7zdq5.22
  8. ^ P. L. Lamy; I. Toth; H. A. Weaver; M. F. A'Hearn; L. Jorda (2011). "Properties of the nuclei and comae of 10 ecliptic comets from Hubble Space Telescope multi-orbit observations". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 412 (3): 1573–1590. Bibcode:2011MNRAS.412.1573L. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17934.x
  9. ^ R. Kokotanekova; C. Snodgrass; P. Lacerda; S. F. Green; S. C. Lowry et al. (2017). "Rotation of Cometary Nuclei: New Lightcurves and an Update of the Ensemble Properties of Jupiter-Family Comets". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 471 (3): 2974–3007. arXiv:1707.02133. Bibcode:2017MNRAS.471.2974K. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx1716

Bibliography

  • Kronk, Gary W.; Meyer, Maik; Seargent, David A. J. (2017). Cometography: A Catalog of Comets. Vol. 6: 1983–1993. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-87216-4.