8P/Tuttle
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| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by: | Horace Parnell Tuttle |
| Discovery date: | January 5, 1858 |
| Alternate designations: | 1790 II; 1858 I; 1871 III; 1885 IV; 1899 III; 1912 IV; 1926 IV; 1939 X; 1967 V; 1980 XIII; 1994 XV |
| Orbital characteristics A | |
| Epoch: | January 15, 2008 |
| Aphelion distance: | 10.376340 AU |
| Perihelion distance: | 1.027132 AU |
| Semi-major axis: | 5.701737 AU |
| Eccentricity: | 0.819856 |
| Orbital period: | 13.6 a |
| Inclination: | 54.9830° |
| Last perihelion: | January 27, 2008 |
| Next perihelion: | August 27, 2021 [1] |
8P/Tuttle is a periodic comet in our solar system. Perihelion was late January 2008, and as of February was visible telescopically to Southern Hemisphere observers in the constellation Eridanus. On December 30, 2007 it was in close conjunction with spiral galaxy M33. On January 2, 2008 it passed Earth at a distance of 0.25 AU.
Comet 8P/Tuttle is responsible for the Ursid meteor shower in late December.[2]
Predictions that the 2007 Ursid meteor shower could be expected to be stronger than usual due to the return of the comet, [3] did not appear to materialize, as counts were in the range of normal distribution.
[edit] Additional Images
 Tuttle on December 3, 2007 from Mount Laguna, California |
 About 1.2 degrees from M33 on December 30, 2007. |
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
- 8P at Kronk's Cometography
- 8P/Tuttle time sequence
- Comet Tuttle Seen To Be Returning
- Comet 8P/Tuttle. Canary Islands, Tenerife. 06.01.2008
- NASA Orbital Diagram
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