Copyright © All rights reserved. Made By Erik Bryssinck  Terms of use  |  Privacy policy

13P/OLDERS (= 1815 E1 = 1887 Q1 = 1956 A1  )

 Comet 13P/OLDERS - Gary Kronk’s Cometography

Photometric data obtained by use of FOCAS-II software

                                   10x10  20x20  30x30  40x40  50x50  60x60   SNR   SB   COD

COMET         UTC                    +/-    +/-    +/-    +/-    +/-    +/-     N  FWHM  CAT

------------  -------------------  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  ----  ----  ---

13P           09/01/2024 19:11:04  16.36  15.84  15.63  15.56  15.62          6.7  17.1  B96

13P           09/01/2024 19:11:04*  0.07   0.04   0.12   0.15   0.05            2   4.0  Gai

13P           16/01/2024 18:30:44  16.26  15.67  15.54  15.39  15.36  15.46   9.3  16.5  B96

13P           16/01/2024 18:30:44*  0.03   0.15   0.19   0.26   0.17   0.28     2   3.9  Gai

                                                                     AFRHO         LOG

COMET         UTC                   DELTA    r    BOX "   MAG   RSR    CM    +/-  AFRHO  OBS

------------  -------------------   -----  -----  -----  -----  ---  -----  ----  -----  ---

13P           09/01/2024 19:11:04    2.17   2.63  12.68  16.15    7    108    16  2.035  B96

13P           16/01/2024 18:30:44    2.19   2.56  12.61  16.02    9    117    13  2.069  B96

Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers (Bremen, Germany) discovered this comet on 1815 March 6.89 UT. He simply described it as a small comet. It was then in the constellation Camelopardalis. He confirmed the discovery and motion on March 7.80 UT and commented, "The comet goes thus slowly to the north and the east to the body of Perseus. It is small, has a badly defined nucleus, and a very pale transparent coma, and was visible in the cometseeker."

The comet attained a maximum magnitude of about 5 during the 1815 apparition, and the tail reached a maximum length of about one degree.

The comet's first orbit was computed by Gauss on 1815 March 31. It was parabolic and indicated a perihelion date of 1815 April 25.17 UT. During mid-July of 1815, F. W. Bessel noted that observations acquired during the period of March 11 to May 20, could not be well represented by a parabolic orbit, so he determined the first elliptical one. His first result, using the same observational arc revealed a perihelion date of April 26.50 and an orbital period of 73.00 years. He then added an observation obtained during late June of 1815 and revised the orbital period to 73.90 years. Calculations by other astronomers during the following years typically revealed periods of 72 to 77 years.

The comet was last detected in 1956. It reached a maximum magnitude of 6.5, while the tail reached a maximum length of one degree. The calculated perihelion date was only 5.5 days off.  The period of this comet is about 69 years