About this episode
The episode discusses the discovery of Comet C/2017 W2 (Leonard) by Greg Leonard and its unique orbital characteristics.
My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was searching for Earth approaching objects with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he discovered an interesting new comet moving through the constellation of Leo. After Greg posted his discovery observations on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Confirmation Page it was observed over the next 3 weeks by 10 different observatories around the world. These data were used to calculate the details of the new object's 51 year path around the Sun and give it the name Comet C/2017 W2 (Leonard) . Greg's newly discovered comet's orbital plane is almost at a right angle to paths of the planets and most of the asteroids so that it spends most of it's time in the lonely space high above or far below the rest of the members of our solar system. Riding with Comet C/2017 W2 (Leonard) would bring a space traveler into the inner solar system about once per human lifetime. Greg's comet receives only mild solar heating since at it's closest it is about 3 times further from the Sun than we are making it unlikely to ever be bright for human observers. At it's furthest from the Sun, Comet Leonard is in a very cold region, receives less than…
People in this episode
Host: Albert D. Grauer
Topics covered
- comet discovery
- astronomy
- space exploration
- solar system
- orbital mechanics
Keywords
- Greg Leonard
- Comet C/2017 W2
- Mt. Lemmon
- astronomy
- solar system
- comet discovery
- orbital path
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Comet C/2017 W2 (Leonard)
Places: Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, Leo
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