56P/Slaughter–Burnham

Not to be confused with C/1958 R1 (Burnham–Slaughter). For other comets discovered by Robert Burnham Jr., see Comet Burnham.
56P/Slaughter–Burnham
Discovery
Discovered byCharles D. Slaughter
Robert Burnham Jr.
Discovery date27 January 1959
Designations
P/1959 B1
P/1969 V1
  • 1958 VI, 1970 V
  • 1981 XVIII, 1993 X
Orbital characteristics
Epoch21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5)
Observation arc58.99 years
Number of
observations		2,141
Aphelion7.636 AU
Perihelion2.489 AU
Semi-major axis5.063 AU
Eccentricity0.50822
Orbital period11.392 years
Inclination8.155°
345.87°
Argument of
periapsis		44.235°
Mean anomaly294.36°
Last perihelion18 July 2016
Next perihelion19 December 2027
TJupiter2.710
Earth MOID1.518 AU
Jupiter MOID0.022 AU
Physical characteristics
Mean radius
3.0 km (1.9 mi)
Mean density
640±100 kg/m3
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		9.3
Comet nuclear
magnitude (M2)		13.4

56P/Slaughter–Burnham is a Jupiter-family comet with an 11.54-year orbit around the Sun. It is the second of two comets co-discovered by Robert Burnham Jr. and Charles D. Slaughter.

Observational history

It was discovered in 1959 by Charles D. Slaughter and Robert Burnham of the Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona during a photographic survey. They spotted the comet, with a faint brightness of magnitude 16, on a plate exposed on 10 December 1958. By monitoring its movement over a series of consecutive days, Elizabeth Roemer was able to calculate its orbit, suggesting a perihelion date of 4 August 1958 and an orbital period of 11.18 years.

It was subsequently observed in 1970, 1981, 1993, 2005 and 2016. Its next perihelion will be on 19 December 2027.

Physical characteristics

The nucleus of the comet has a radius of 1.55 km (0.96 mi) based on observations by the Keck Observatory. Follow-up observations from the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope revealed a much larger nucleus at 3.0 km (1.9 mi) in radius.

Notes

  1. ↑ Observation arc from the Minor Planet Center database only covered dates from 2 February 1959 until 23 January 2018 (58.97 years). This figure includes its entire arc up to 27 January 1959.

References

  1. 1 2 "56P/Slaughter–Burnham – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  2. 1 2 "56P/Slaughter–Burnham Orbit". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  3. ↑ S. Nakano (27 October 2005). "NK 1272: 56P/Slaughter–Burnham". OAA Computing and Minor Planet Sections. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  4. ↑ "Horizons Batch for 56P/Slaughter–Burnham (90000628) on 2027-Dec-19" (Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons. Retrieved 28 September 2025. (JPL#K162/5 Soln.date: 2023-Oct-16)
  5. 1 2 C. S. Snodgrass; S. C. Lowry; A. Fitzsimmons (2007). "Optical observations of 23 distant Jupiter Family Comets, including 36P/Whipple at multiple phase angles" (PDF). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 385 (2): 737–756. arXiv:0712.4204. Bibcode:2008MNRAS.385..737S. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.12900.x. S2CID 55536237.
  6. ↑ M. L. Paradowski (2022). "A New Indirect Method of Determining Density of Cometary Nuclei" (PDF). Acta Astronomica. 72 (2): 141–159. Bibcode:2022AcA....72..141P. doi:10.32023/0001-5237/72.2.4. ISSN 0001-5237.
  7. ↑ G. W. Kronk. "56P/Slaughter–Burnham". Cometography.com. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  8. ↑ K. J. Meech; O. R. Hainaut; B. G. Marsden (2004). "Comet nucleus size distributions from HST and Keck telescopes". Icarus. 170 (2): 463–491. Bibcode:2004Icar..170..463M. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2004.03.014.