24P/Schaumasse

Infobox Comet
name=24P/Schaumasse


caption=
discoverer=Alexandre Schaumasse
discovery_date=December 1, 1911
designations=1911 X1, 1919 U1
epoch=May 11, 2001
aphelion=
perihelion=1.20 AU
semimajor=4.08 AU
semiminor=
orbital_circ=
eccentricity=0.705
period=8.247 a
avg_speed=
max_speed=
min_speed=
inclination= 11.75°
last_p=May 2, 2001
next_p=August 9, 2009

Comet Schaumasse is a periodic comet discovered by Alexandre Schaumasse (Nice, France) on December 1, 1911 as 12th magnitude.

By the end of 1912 it was recognised as a short period comet estimated to return in 7.1 years, later recalculated as 8 years. The 1919 return was recovered by Gaston Fayet (Paris, France) as magnitude 10.5.

The 1927 approach was magnitude 12, but the comet was missed on the 1935 approach. In 1937 it passed close to Jupiter which increased its orbital period slightly.

The comet was missed in 1968 and 1976, it was speculated that the increase in brightness in 1952 indicated a problem that led to it vanishing. In 1984, Elizabeth Roemer (Steward Observatory, Arizona, USA) found an image on photographs from 1976 which indicated a change in the perihelion date, the approach later that year observed by James B. Gibson (Palomar Observatory, California, USA) and orbital calculations by Brian G. Marsden confirmed the 1976 image was Comet Schaumasse.

A close approach to Earth is expected in 2026 and 2034, and to Jupiter in 2044.

External links

* [http://cometography.com/pcomets/024p.html 24P at Kronk's Cometography]
* [http://www9.ocn.ne.jp/~comet/pcmtn/0024p.htm 24P at Kazuo Kinoshita's Comets]
* [http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0024P/index.html 24P at Seiichi Yoshida's Comet Catalog]