32P/Comas Solà

32P/Comas Solà is a periodic comet with a current orbital period of 9.7 years around the Sun.

Observational history

32P/Comas Solà was discovered November 5, 1926, by Josep Comas Solà. As part of his work on asteroids for the Fabra Observatory (Barcelona), he was taking photographs with a Template:Convert telescope. The comet's past orbital evolution became a point of interest as several astronomers suggested early on that the comet might be a return of the then lost periodic comet Spitaler (113P/Spitaler). In 1935 additional positions had been obtained, and P. Ramensky investigated the orbital motion back to 1911. He noted the comet passed very close to Jupiter during May 1912 and that, prior to this approach, the comet had a perihelion distance of 2.15 AU and an orbital period of 9.43 years. The identity with comet Spitaler was thus disproven.

In 1933, the Danish astronomer Julie Vinter Hansen undertook significant new research which calculated the orbit of the comet up to 1980, predicting when it would return to the Earth's orbit.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 1969, Soviet astronomers Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko searched for 32P/Comas Solà on photographic plates, and serendipously discovered a new comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.<ref name="Kronk">Template:Cite book</ref>

External links

• Template:JPL Small Body
• Elements and Ephemeris for 32P/Comas Sola – Minor Planet Center
• 32P/Comas Sola – Seiichi Yoshida @ aerith.net
• 32P/Comas Solà – Gary W. Kronk's Cometography