Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák, which this year was dubbed "April Fools' Comet" since its passing in close proximity to our planet coincided with the international holiday, has a very interesting history.
The green comet passes us by every 5.4 years, in its trajectory from Jupiter to the sun. Although its journey brings it close to Earth for a period of several days, the comet was most visible on April 1, when it came 13 million miles near our home planet, or about 55 times the distance from here to the moon.
Discovered by three different scientists, who observed its flight on separate sightings in the course of almost 100 years (their names comprised in the comet's cognomen), this comet required a great deal of attention — it took four astronomers to properly identify it.
Misclassified, Lost And Rediscovered
The comet was first identified in 1858 by Horace Tuttle, back when it was only known as 41P, and was classified at the time as a periodic comet (meaning it orbits the sun).
NASA states astronomers didn't know how long it took for the comet to complete its orbit, which is why, when it was spotted again in 1907 by Michael Giacobini, no one thought to link it to the 1858 observation.
It was Andrew Crommelin who eventually made the connection between the two sightings and predicted the comet would be seen again in 1928 and 1934. Nevertheless, 41P remained elusive and, since researchers failed to detect it, it was deemed lost.
Its identity was established beyond confusion only in 1951, after the comet's flight was once again noticed by L'ubor Kresák, who recognized its linkage to the previous encounters.
April 12 Perihelion Promises To Be Spectacular
Comet 41P belongs to the Jupiter family, a group of comets attracted by the giant planet's gravitational pull and currently found in orbit between Jupiter and the sun.
Relatively few of these comets have been studied thus far, according to Michael DiSanti, from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. DiSanti is particularly interested to observe more about 41P's activity, nucleus composition and rotation speed.
If you enjoyed Saturday's viewing, hold on to your telescope for the grand finale on April 12, when the comet will be reaching perihelion (its closest point to the sun), passing through the Ursa Major and Draco constellations.
Scientists anticipate we'll be in for quite a treat as 41P approaches the sun, just like in May 1973, when the comet experienced a breathtaking brightness outburst, becoming 10,000 times more radiant in the span of only a few days.
"Nobody knows for sure why the comet abruptly flared in 1973, but careful scrutiny of recent approaches to the sun in 1995, 2001, and 2006 suggest that outbursts in brightness tend to occur around the time [the comet] is passing closest to the Sun," explains astronomer Joe Rao, from New York's Hayden Planetarium, in a statement.
