255P/Levy
Periodic comet
title: "255P/Levy" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["periodic-comets", "near-earth-comets", "jupiter-family-comets", "numbered-comets", "discoveries-by-david-h.-levy", "comets-in-2017", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-2006", "meteor-shower-progenitors"] description: "Periodic comet" topic_path: "general/periodic-comets" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/255P/Levy" 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 | 255P/Levy |
| discovery_ref | |
| discoverer | David H. Levy |
| discovery_site | Jarnac Observatory (G92) |
| discovery_date | 2 October 2006 |
| mpc_name | P/2006 T1 |
| P/2011 Y1 | |
| designations | PK06T010 |
| orbit_ref | |
| observation_arc | 5,484 days (15 years) |
| obs | 590 |
| epoch | 5 July 2021 (JD 2459400.5) |
| semimajor | 2.94 AU |
| perihelion | 0.846 AU |
| aphelion | 5.04 AU |
| eccentricity | 0.7126 |
| period | 5.05 years |
| inclination | 13.46° |
| asc_node | 275.9° |
| arg_peri | 185.8° |
| tjup | 2.792 |
| Earth_moid | 0.0088 AU (2007) |
| Jupiter_moid | 0.1539 AU (2007) |
| M1 | 11.5 |
| M2 | 15.1 |
| magnitude | 9.5 |
| (2006 apparition) | |
| last_p | 7 September 2022 |
| next_p | 25 September 2027 |
| :: |
| name = 255P/Levy | image = | discovery_ref = | discoverer = David H. Levy | discovery_site = Jarnac Observatory (G92) | discovery_date = 2 October 2006 | mpc_name = P/2006 T1 P/2011 Y1 | designations = PK06T010 | orbit_ref = | observation_arc = 5,484 days (15 years) | obs = 590 | epoch = 5 July 2021 (JD 2459400.5) | semimajor = 2.94 AU | perihelion = 0.846 AU | aphelion = 5.04 AU | eccentricity = 0.7126 | period = 5.05 years | inclination = 13.46° | asc_node = 275.9° | arg_peri = 185.8° | tjup = 2.792 | Earth_moid = 0.0088 AU (2007) | Jupiter_moid = 0.1539 AU (2007) | M1 = 11.5 | M2 = 15.1 | magnitude = 9.5 (2006 apparition) | last_p = 7 September 2022 | next_p = 25 September 2027
255P/Levy, formerly P/2006 T1 and P/2011 Y1, is a Jupiter-family comet with an orbital period of 5.25 years. It last came to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 14 January 2012. During the 2006 passage the comet achieved an apparent magnitude of ~9.5. Levy (PK06T010) was believed to have been recovered on 3 June 2011 at magnitude 19.8, but other observatories were unable to confirm a recovery. It was most likely a false positive because of large residuals. Levy was recovered on 17 December 2011 at magnitude 19.8, and given the second designation 2011 Y1. It was then numbered.
It came to perihelion on 14 January 2012 at a distance of 1.007 AU from the Sun. The comet passed the Earth on 2012-Jan-26 at a distance of 0.2359 AU. During the 2012 passage the comet was originally expected to reach an apparent magnitude of 7, but the comet had been in outburst in 2006 and was much dimmer than expected when it was recovered in 2011. MPC estimates after the 2011 recovery estimated that it would reach a magnitude of 17, and it had an elongation of 90°. However, CCD images showed it was diffuse and the comet's magnitude was estimated at 14.1 on 30 December 2011. The comet was not observed during the 2017 or 2022 perihelion passage. At opposition in August 2016 it would have been dimmer than magnitude 19.
255P/Levy (using an epoch of 2007) has a minimum orbit intersection distance with Earth roughly about 0.0088 AU.
The comet has been associated with α Cepheids meteor shower, which peaks on 2 January.
References
| title= 255P/Levy – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup | url= https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=255P | website= ssd.jpl.nasa.gov | publisher= Jet Propulsion Laboratory | access-date= 10 January 2016 }}
| title= MPEC 2006-T21: COMET C/2006 T1 (LEVY) | url= https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K06/K06T21.html | work= Minor Planet Electronic Circular | publisher= Minor Planet Center | date= 3 October 2006 | access-date= 21 November 2024 }}
| title= MPEC 2011-L51: OBSERVATIONS AND ORBITS OF COMETS |url=http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K11/K11L51.html | work= Minor Planet Electronic Circular | publisher= Minor Planet Center | date= 12 June 2011 | access-date= 13 June 2011 }}
| title= MPEC 2011-Y07: P/2006 T1 = 2011 Y1 (Levy) |url=http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K11/K11Y07.html | work= Minor Planet Electronic Circular | publisher= Minor Planet Center | date= 18 December 2011 | access-date= 19 December 2011 }}
|type=last observation: 2011-12-17 |title=P/2006 T1 (Levy) |publisher=Minor Planet Center |url=http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=P/2006+T1&commit=Show |access-date=2011-12-18}}
|title=P/2006 T1 Comet for Windows apmag graph for 2006 |publisher=aerith.net |url=http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0255P/mag.gif |access-date=2011-04-07}}
|type=last observation: 2011-12-30; arc: 5.24 years |title=JPL Close-Approach Data: P/2006 T1 (Levy) |url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2006T1;cad=1#cad |access-date=2012-01-04}}
|title=255P/Levy Orbit |url=http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=255P |publisher=Minor Planet Center |access-date=2014-06-20}}
|date=2011-12-27 |title=Weekly Information about Bright Comets (2011 Dec. 24: North) |publisher=aerith.net |url=http://www.aerith.net/comet/weekly/20111224n.html |access-date=2012-01-04}}
|title=CCD comet estimates |date=2012-01-01 |publisher=severastro.narod.ru |url=http://severastro.narod.ru/nabl/novichonok/icq_may.txt |access-date=2012-01-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422173100/http://severastro.narod.ru/nabl/novichonok/icq_may.txt |archive-date=2012-04-22 |url-status=dead
|title=Horizons Batch for 255P/Levy on 2022-Sep-07 |publisher=JPL Horizons |type=Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive |url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons_batch.cgi?batch=1&COMMAND=%27255P%27&START_TIME=%272022-Sep-07%27&STOP_TIME=%272022-Sep-08%27&STEP_SIZE=%273%20hours%27&QUANTITIES=%2719%27 |accessdate=2023-04-30}} (JPL#40/Soln.date: 2021-Oct-18)
|title=Horizons Batch for 255P/Levy on 2027-Sep-25 |publisher=JPL Horizons |type=Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive |url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons_batch.cgi?batch=1&COMMAND=%27255P%27&START_TIME=%272027-Sep-25%27&STOP_TIME=%272027-Sep-26%27&STEP_SIZE=%273%20hours%27&QUANTITIES=%2719%27 |accessdate=2023-04-30}} (JPL#40/Soln.date: 2021-Oct-18)
| author1= D. Šegon | author2= P. Gural | author3= Z. Andreić | author4= I. Skokić | author5= K. Korlević | author6= D. Vida | author7= F. Novoselnik | display-authors= 5 | title= New showers from parent body search across several video meteor databases | journal= WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization | date= April 2014 | volume= 42 | issue= 2 | pages= 57–64 | bibcode= 2014JIMO...42...57S | url= https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/2014JIMO...42...57S | issn= 1016-3115 }}
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