Comet Swift–Tuttle
Sign in to saveAlso known as 109P/Swift–Tuttle, Swift–Tuttle, 109P
periodic comet and parent body of the Perseid meteor shower
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Lewis Swift , Horace Parnell Tuttle
- Discovery date
- 16–19 July 1862
- Mpc designation
- P/1737 N1; P/1862 O1, P/1992 S2
- Alternative designations
- 1737 II; 1862 III;, 1992 XXVIII
- Epoch
- 4 December 1995 ( JD 2448960.5)
- Observation arc
- 2,064 years
- Earliest precovery date
- 69 BC
- Aphelion
- 51.225 AU
- Perihelion
- 0.9595 AU
- Semi major axis
- 26.092 AU
- 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°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 139.44°
- Argument of periapsis
- 153.00°
- Last perihelion
- 12 December 1992
- Next perihelion
- 12 July 2126
via Wikipedia infobox
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
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.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Comet Swift–Tuttle” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.