36P/Whipple
Taken by Mike Olason on November 25, 2020 @
Tucson, Arizona
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Details:
In this image Comet 36P/Whipple was magnitude 19.2 and 203 million miles from Earth. The comet had a very short tail only 16" (0.004 degrees) long trailing west away from the comets nucleus. The bright 77% illuminated Moon did not help show this comet and its tail very well. Comet Whipple was at perihelion in its 8.4 year orbit this past May 31, it only brightened to about magnitude 18.5 during this orbit into the inner solar system. Whipple is rather small, only about 2.8 miles wide, it was discovered in 1933 by Fred Whipple at Harvard. In 2040 Whipples orbit will take it only 63 million miles from Jupiter whose gravity will alter Whipples orbit significantly with an estimated orbit period change from the current 8.4 years to a new orbit period of 9.8 years and Whipples perihelion distance from the Sun will increase from the current 281 million miles to 352 million miles.
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