50P/Arend

Observations

50P/Arend was observed at its brightest at a maximum magnitude of 14 when it was discovered in 1951. At the comet's next apparition on September 1, 1959, did not exceed 17 if it had not been for an outburst in November which affected its brightness to magnitude 15.5. The observed orbital period was 7.8 years at the time of its discovery however at each succeeding perihelion has led to less favorable observations due to its 0.64 astronomical units (AU) as it approached Jupiter in 1969, even if its maximum magnitude was 15. This approach also led to the comet's orbital period to increase to 8.0 years.

Long-term motion studies conducted by Brian G. Marsden on the comet 50P/Arend renders the comet's orbital eccentricity at 0.5 which makes it relatively undisturbed by Jupiter over the last 200-year cycles despite as passage of only 0.49 AU. The study was conducted inside the interval where libration happens. Several comets, namely 50P/Arend, 4P/Faye, 6P/d'Arrest, 22P/Kopff, 36P/Whipple, 78P/Gehrels, 92P/Sanguin, 4015 Wilson-Harrington, and 128P/Shoemaker-Holt, were observed at the Palomar Observatory. Visible coma activity was only observed from 4P/Faye and 50P/Arend out of the 9 other comets from data obtained in May 2000 and March 2001. There have been 1069 observations from October 8, 1951, to February 19, 2008, also where its mean residual is at 0".60.

The nucleus of the comet has a radius of 0.95 ± 0.03 kilometers, assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04.

References

References

1. {{mpc. 50p
2. "50P/Arend". Gary W. Kronk's Cometography.
3. "50P/Arend". Aerith.
4. "50P/Arend (2007)". Aerith.
5. "Periodic Comet 50P/Arend". H. Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory, Slovenia.
6. "Catalog of Hubble Space Telescope Comet Observations". The Planetary Data System (PDS) Small Bodies Node (SBN).
7. "COMETA 50P (Arend)". U.A.I. SEZIONE COMETE.
8. "Numbered periodic comets index in perihelion year". JComet Observations.
9. "Cometas Periódicos (Periodic Comets)". Cometografia.
10. Belbruno, E.. (1997). "Resonance Hopping in Comets". Astronomical Journal.
11. "The Minor Planet Electronic Circulars contain information on unusual minor planets and routine data on comets". Brian G. Marsden MPC.
12. (2003). "The colors of cometary nuclei—Comparison with other primitive bodies of the Solar System and implications for their origin". Icarus.
13. (2003). "CCD observations of distant comets from Palomar and Steward Observatories". Icarus.
14. "50P/Arend". Comet Orbit.
15. (December 2009). "Properties of the nuclei and comae of 13 ecliptic comets from Hubble Space Telescope snapshot observations". Astronomy & Astrophysics.