16P/Brooks

16P/Brooks, also known as Brooks 2, is a periodic comet discovered by William Robert Brooks on July 7, 1889, but failed to note any motion. He was able to confirm the discovery the next morning, having seen that the comet had moved north. On August 1, 1889, the famous comet hunter Edward Emerson Barnard discovered two fragments of the comet labeled "B" and "C" located 1 and 4.5 arc minutes away. On August 2, he found another four or five, but these were no longer visible the next day. On August 4, he observed two more objects, labeled "D" and "E". "E" disappeared by the next night and "D" was gone by the next week. Around mid-month, "B" grew large and faint, finally disappearing at the beginning of September. "C" managed to survive until mid-November 1889. The apparition ended on January 13, 1891. After the discovery apparition, the comet has always been over two magnitudes fainter.

1886

The comet's breakup is believed to have been caused by the passage of the comet within Jupiter's Roche limit around 20 July 1886,<ref name="Horizons1886"/><ref name="Kinoshita"/>Template:Efn when it spent two days within the orbit of Io.Template:Efn

16P/Brooks 2 best-fit Jupiter approach around 1886-Jul-20<ref name="Horizons1886"/>

Date & time of closest approach	Jupiter distance (AU)	Sun distance (AU)	Velocity wrt Jupiter (km/s)	Velocity wrt Sun (km/s)	Reference
1886-Jul-20 22:32	Template:Convert	Template:Convert	41.1	40.1	Horizons

The very close approach to Jupiter in 1886 resulted in the previous perihelion distance becoming the new aphelion distance.

Orbital Elements for 1865 + 1889<ref name="Horizons1868"/>

Epoch	Aphelion (AD)	Perihelion (QR)	Period
1865	14 AUTemplate:Efn	5.5 AU	31 years
1889	5.4 AU	1.95 AU	7 years

On 31 December 2016 the comet passed Template:Convert from Jupiter and on 5 July 2053 ± 3 days it will pass about Template:Convert from Jupiter.<ref name=jpldata/>

External links

• Template:JPL Small Body
• 16P/Brooks 2 – Seiichi Yoshida @ aerith.net
• 16P at Kronk's Cometography