C/1956 F1 (Wirtanen)
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Carl A. Wirtanen |
| Discovery site | Lick Observatory |
| Discovery date | 16 March 1956 |
| Designations | |
| 1957 VI, 1956c | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 30 August 1957 (JD 2436080.5) |
| Observation arc | 4.53 years |
| Number of observations | 169 |
| Aphelion | ~116,000 AU (inbound) ~13,400 AU (outbound) |
| Perihelion | 4.447 AU |
| Semi-major axis | ~58,100 AU (inbound) ~6,700 AU (outbound) |
| Eccentricity | 0.99992 (inbound) 0.99934 (outbound) |
| Orbital period | ~14 million years (inbound) ~550,000 years (outbound) |
| Inclination | 33.202° |
| 233.66° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 13.259° |
| Last perihelion | 2 September 1957 |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean radius | ~14.0 km (8.7 mi) |
| Mass | ~10e+14 kg |
| 0.10 (assumed) | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 0.6–5.9 |
| 10.5 (1957 apparition) | |
C/1956 F1 (Wirtanen) is a distant non-periodic comet that was observed from 1956 to 1960. It is the last of five comets discovered by American astronomer, Carl A. Wirtanen.