7P/Pons-Winnecke

Infobox Comet
name=7P/Pons-Winnecke


discoverer=Jean Louis Pons & Friedrich Winnecke
discovery_date=June 12, 1819 & March 9, 1858
designations=1858 E1, 1858 II, 1819 III, 1927c, 1933b, 1939c, 1945a, 1951c, 1964b, 1970b, 1976f, 1983b, 1989g
epoch=May 6, 2002
semimajor=3.434 AU
perihelion=1.257 AU
aphelion=5.611 AU
eccentricity=0.634
period=6.37 a
inclination= 22.28°
last_p=May 15, 2002
next_p=September 26, 2008

7P/Pons-Winnecke is a periodic comet in our solar system.

Jean Louis Pons (Marseille) originally discovered the comet on June 12, 1819, it was later rediscovered by Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke (Bonn) on March 9, 1858. It is believed to be the parent body of the June Bootids of late June. The nucleus has been estimated to be 2.6 km long.

7P has an orbital period of 6.37 years. It has a perihelion of 1.3 AU and an aphelion of 5.6 AU (past the orbit of Jupiter). It passed within 6 Gm (0.04 AU) of Earth in June 1927, and 16 Gm (0.1 AU) in 1939; but it will not come as close in the 21st century.

External links

* [http://cometography.com/pcomets/007p.html 7P at Kronk's Cometography]
* [http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509115v1 article on the nuclei of 7P, 14P, and 92P]