C/2010 X1
is the scientific name of the
Elenin comet
Now, let us see the wikipedian information about this Comet C/2010 X1 (or Elenin comet):
Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin) is a long-period comet discovered by Russian amateur astronomer
Leonid Elenin on December 10, 2010, through remote control of the International Scientific Optical Network's robotic observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico, U.S.A. At the time of discovery, the comet had an apparent magnitude of 19.5, making it about 150,000 times fainter than can be seen with the naked eye. The discoverer,
Leonid Elenin, estimates that the comet nucleus is 3–4 km in diameter.
BrightnessIn April 2011, the comet was around magnitude 15 (roughly the brightness of Pluto), with a coma (expanding tenuous dust atmosphere) estimated to be about 80,000 km in diameter. As of 21 May 2011 the coma had exceeded 100,000 km, and as of August 2011 it had exceeded 200,000 km. Estimates of the comet's visual brightness varied from 13.1 to 13.8 magnitude between May 22 and June 4, were approaching 10 by late July 2011, and were around 8.3 as of mid August 2011. Even at a magnitude of 8.3, the comet is about 5 times fainter than the naked eye can see under a completely dark sky.
Between August 1st and August 12th of 2011, NASA repeatedly rolled the STEREO-B spacecraft to view the forward scattering of light as the spacecraft, comet, and Sun aligned. As of August 14th 2011, Elenin is visible in STEREO-B without rolling the craft.[14] SOHO will also study the forward scattering of light in late September. Since the orbit of Elenin is nearly coincident with the ecliptic plane with an inclination of only 1.84°, the comet enters forward-scattering geometry from STEREO-B, SOHO, and the Earth. This will allow the dust scattering function to be studied simultaneously from two different locations. On 19 August 2011 comet Elenin was hit by a coronal mass ejection (CME). The comet may be in the process of disintegrating, as did comet C/1999 S4.
C/2010 X1 will make its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) on 10 September 2011 at a distance of 0.4824 AU (72,170,000 km; 44,840,000 mi). It will make its closest approach to the Earth on 16 October 2011, at a distance of 0.2338 AU (34,980,000 km; 21,730,000 mi) or slightly closer than the planet Venus, at a relative velocity of 86,000 km/h. The Minor Planet Center ephemeris shows this relatively bright comet will reach about 6th magnitude near mid-October 2011, but until the activity level of the coma is better known it is still uncertain just how bright this comet will become.
Elenin will make its closest apparent pass in the night sky to Comet 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková on the morning of October 8, before moving apparently close to Mars on October 15. The comet came to opposition at 178° from the Sun on March 14, 2011 and will come to opposition again on November 22, 2011 at 175° from the Sun. The minimum angle between the Sun and comet will occur September 26 (1.9°), and between July 28 and October 10 the comet will be less than 45 degrees from the Sun.
Original and future orbitGiven the orbital eccentricity of this object, its orbital period is not a fixed value, because it is frequently perturbed by the gravity of the planets. Near perihelion, using an August 2011 epoch, Kazuo Kinoshita shows C/2010 X1 to have a heliocentric orbital period of 600,000 years, though more perturbations will occur. For objects at such high eccentricity, the Sun's barycentric coordinates are more stable than heliocentric coordinates. The orbit of a long-period comet is properly obtained when the osculating orbit is computed at an epoch after leaving the planetary region and is calculated with respect to the center of mass of the solar system. Using JPL Horizons with an observed orbital arc of 235 days, the barycentric orbital elements for epoch 2020-Jan-01 generate a semi-major axis of 518 AU and a period of approximately 11,800 years.
Before entering the planetary region (epoch 1950), Elenin had a calculated barycentric orbital period of ~5.7 million years with an apoapsis (aphelion) distance of about 63,800 AU (1.01 light-years).
Elenin was probably in the outer Oort cloud with a loosely bound chaotic orbit that was easily perturbed by passing stars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2010_X1