96P/Machholz
Sign in to saveAlso known as 1986 J2; 1986 VIII; 1991 XII
Comet 96P/Machholz, also known as Machholz 1 is a periodic sunskirting comet discovered on 12 May 1986, by amateur astronomer Donald Machholz on Loma Prieta peak, in central California using binoculars. On 6 June 1986, 96P/Machholz passed from the Earth. 96P/Machholz last came to perihelion on January 31, 2023. The comet has an estimated diameter of around .
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, 96P/Machholz is referenced by 772 other articles, and connects out to HD 110067, Donald Machholz and comet.
It is catalogued under topics including Astronomical objects discovered in 1986, Comets in 2007 and Comets in 2012.
Its subject is documented across 12 Wikipedia language editions.
Key facts
- Comet.name
- 96P/Machholz
- Comet.image
- 96P 20070403 000500 HI1A.png
- Comet.caption
- Comet Machholz 1 as seen by the STEREO-A spacecraft in April 2007
- Comet.discoverer
- Donald E. Machholz
- Comet.discovery_site
- Loma Prieta, California
- Comet.discovery_date
- 12 May 1986
- Comet.mpc_name
- P/1986 J2
- Comet.epoch
- 21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5)
- Comet.observation_arc
- 38.17 years
- Comet.obs
- 1,559
- Comet.aphelion
- 5.946 AU
- Comet.semimajor
- 3.031 AU
- Comet.eccentricity
- 0.96173
- Comet.period
- 5.277 years
- Comet.inclination
- 57.586°
- Comet.asc_node
- 93.963°
- Comet.arg_peri
- 14.739°
- Comet.mean
- 191.35°
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- near-Earth object
- Parent body
- Sun
- Child body
- Southern Delta Aquariids
- Diameter
- 6.4
- Orbital period
- 1931.306460842796
- Image
- 96P 20070403 000500 HI1A.png
Show 15 more facts
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.9591608428638698
- discoverer or inventor
- Donald Machholz
- Commons category
- 96P/Machholz
- provisional designation
- 1986e
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 3.035068595409598
- periapsis
- 0.1239496432868665
- apoapsis
- 5.946187547532331
- orbital inclination
- 58.13790031260349
- time of discovery or invention
- 1986-05-12
- time of periapsis
- 2458054.460930588
- absolute magnitude
- 13.7
- longitude of ascending node
- 94.25472309284206
- argument of periapsis
- 14.7928448266822
- mean anomaly
- 342.6718948496791
- epoch
- July 27, 2017
via Wikidata · CC0
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
12 sectionsContents
- Orbit
- Perihelion
- Observations
- 2001/02 perihelion
- 2007 perihelion
- 2012 perihelion
- 2017 perihelion
- 2023 perihelion
- Unusual composition
- Notes
- References
- External links
Comet 96P/Machholz, also known as Machholz 1 is a periodic sunskirting comet discovered on 12 May 1986, by amateur astronomer Donald Machholz on Loma Prieta peak, in central California using binoculars. On 6 June 1986, 96P/Machholz passed from the Earth. 96P/Machholz last came to perihelion on January 31, 2023. The comet has an estimated diameter of around .
This comet is the parent body of both the Kracht and Marsden sungrazer families.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “96P/Machholz” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.