16P/Brooks
Sketch of 16P/Brooks's fragmentation on 4 August 1889 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | William Robert Brooks |
| Discovery date | 7 July 1889 |
| Designations | |
| 1889 V; 1896 VI; 1903 V; 1911 I; 1925 IX; 1932 VIII; 1939 VII; 1946 IV; 1953 V; 1960 VI; 1974 I; 1980 IX; 1987 XXIV; 1994 XXIII | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 2023-02-25 |
| Aphelion | 5.439 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.879 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 3.659 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.4864 |
| Orbital period | 6.99 yr |
| Max. orbital speed | 40 km/s (1886 Jupiter approach) 26 km/s (2028 perihelion) |
| Inclination | 3.011° |
| Last perihelion | April 18, 2021 June 7, 2014 April 12, 2008 |
| Next perihelion | 2028-Apr-21 |
16P/Brooks, also known as Brooks 2, is a periodic comet discovered by William Robert Brooks on 7 July 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 1 August 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 2 August 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 13 January 1891. After the discovery apparition, the comet has always been over two magnitudes fainter.