Biela's Comet
Biela's Comet or Comet Biela (official designation: 3D/Biela) was a periodic Jupiter-family comet first recorded in 1772 by Montaigne and Messier and finally identified as periodic in 1826 by Wilhelm von Biela. It was subsequently observed to split in two and has not been seen since 1852. As a result, it is currently considered to have been destroyed, although remnants have survived for some time as a meteor shower, the Andromedids which may show increased activity in 2023.
Biela's Comet in February 1846, soon after it split into two pieces | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Wilhelm von Biela |
| Discovery date | February 27, 1826 |
| Designations | |
Alternative designations | 1772; 1806 I; 1832 III; 1846 II; 1852 III; 1772 E1; 1826 D1; 1832 S1 |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | September 29, 1852 |
| Aphelion | 6.190 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.8606 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 3.5253 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.7559 |
| Orbital period | 6.619 yr |
| Inclination | 12.550° |
| Last perihelion | September 23, 1852 (fragment A) September 24, 1852 (fragment B) |
| Next perihelion | Last seen September 1852 |
| TJupiter | 2.531 |
| Earth MOID | 0.0005 AU (75 thousand km) (epoch 1832) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | ≈0.5 km (pre-breakup) |
| Perihelion distance at different epochs | |||||||
| Epoch | Perihelion (AU) | Period (years) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1772 | 0.99 | 6.87 | |||||
| 1805 | 0.91 | 6.74 | |||||
| 1826 | 0.90 | 6.72 | |||||
| 1832 | 0.88 | 6.65 | |||||
| 1846 | 0.86 | 6.60 | |||||
| 1852 | 0.86 | 6.62 | |||||
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