136P/Mueller
Periodic comet
title: "136P/Mueller" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["periodic-comets", "numbered-comets", "discoveries-by-jean-mueller", "comets-in-2007", "comets-in-2016", "comets-in-2025", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1990"] description: "Periodic comet" topic_path: "general/periodic-comets" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/136P/Mueller" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Periodic comet ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox comet"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | 136P/Mueller |
| discovery_ref | |
| discoverer | Jean Mueller |
| discovery_site | Palomar Observatory |
| discovery_date | 24 September 1990 |
| mpc_name | P/1990 S1 |
| P/1998 K4 | |
| designations | |
| orbit_ref | |
| epoch | 5 May 2025 (JD 2460800.5) |
| observation_arc | 34.27 years |
| earliest_precovery_date | 17 September 1990 |
| obs | 712 |
| perihelion | 2.963 AU |
| aphelion | 5.415 AU |
| semimajor | 4.189 AU |
| period | 8.562 years |
| eccentricity | 0.29313 |
| inclination | 9.427° |
| asc_node | 137.42° |
| arg_peri | 225.31° |
| mean | 13.998° |
| tjup | 2.934 |
| Earth_moid | 1.986 AU |
| Jupiter_moid | 0.264 AU |
| physical_ref | |
| mean_radius | 1.15 km |
| albedo | 0.04 (assumed) |
| M1 | 7.4 |
| M2 | 14.3 |
| last_p | 3 January 2025 |
| :: |
| name = 136P/Mueller | image = | discovery_ref = | discoverer = Jean Mueller | discovery_site = Palomar Observatory | discovery_date = 24 September 1990 | mpc_name = P/1990 S1 P/1998 K4 | designations = | orbit_ref = | epoch = 5 May 2025 (JD 2460800.5) | observation_arc = 34.27 years | earliest_precovery_date = 17 September 1990 | obs = 712 | perihelion = 2.963 AU | aphelion = 5.415 AU | semimajor = 4.189 AU | period = 8.562 years | eccentricity = 0.29313 | inclination = 9.427° | asc_node = 137.42° | arg_peri = 225.31° | mean = 13.998° | tjup = 2.934 | Earth_moid = 1.986 AU | Jupiter_moid = 0.264 AU | physical_ref = | mean_radius = 1.15 km | albedo = 0.04 (assumed) | M1 = 7.4 | M2 = 14.3 | last_p = 3 January 2025 | next_p =
136P/Mueller, also known as Mueller 3, is a periodic comet in the Solar System.
Observational history
Jean Mueller discovered the comet on exposed photographic plates taken by the Palomar Observatory on the night of 24 September 1990. At the time, it was a diffuse 18th-magnitude object in the constellation Cetus. Within a couple of days after discovery, Harold Holt found precovery images taken as early as 17 September. Orbital calculations by Edward L. G. Bowell and Daniel W. E. Green later indicated that Mueller's new find is a periodic comet.
James V. Scotti later successfully recovered the comet in 24 May 1998.
Physical characteristics
Assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04, the comet's nucleus is estimated to have an effective radius of 1.2 ±.
References
Notes
Citations
| author1= J. Mueller | author2= C. Brewer | author3= J. D. Mendenhall | editor1= D. W. Green | title= Comet Mueller (1990l) | url= http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/05100/05102.html | journal= IAU Circular | date= 26 September 1990 | volume= 5102 | issue= 1 }}
| author1= E. Bowell | author2= H. E. Holt | author3= H. R. Holt | author4= C. M. Olmstead | author5= J. A. Brown | editor1= D. W. Green | title= Comet Mueller (1990l) | url= http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/05100/05105.html | journal= IAU Circular | date= 28 September 1990 | volume= 5105 | issue= 1 | bibcode= 1990IAUC.5105....1B }}
| author1= D. W. Green | title= Periodic Comet Mueller (1990l) | url= http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/05100/05126.html | journal= IAU Circular | date= 30 October 1990 | volume= 5126 | issue= 2 | bibcode= 1990IAUC.5126....2G }}
| author1= J. V. Scotti | author2= S. Nakano | editor1= B. G. Marsden | title= Comet P/1998 K4 (Mueller 3) | url= http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/06900/06919.html | journal= IAU Circular | date= 26 May 1998 | volume= 6919 | issue= 1 | bibcode= 1998IAUC.6919....1S }}
| title= 136P/Mueller – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup | url= https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=136P | website= ssd.jpl.nasa.gov | publisher= Jet Propulsion Laboratory | access-date= 28 July 2025 }}
| author1= G. W. Kronk | author2= M. Meyer | author3= D. A. J. Seargent | title= Cometography: A Catalog of Comets | year= 2017 | volume= 6: 1983–1993 | pages= 532–534 | publisher= Cambridge University Press | isbn= 978-0-521-87216-4 }}
| title= 136P/Mueller Orbit | url= http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=136P | publisher= Minor Planet Center | access-date= 7 April 2017 }}
| author1= C. Snodgrass | author2= A. Fitzsimmons | author3= S. C. Lowry | author4= P. Weissman | title= The size distribution of Jupiter Family comet nuclei | url= https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-pdf/414/1/458/3818082/mnras0414-0458.pdf | journal= Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | year= 2011 | volume= 414 | issue= 1 | pages= 458–469 | bibcode= 2011MNRAS.414..458S | arxiv= 1101.4228 | doi= 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18406.x | doi-access= free }}
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