Millions of celestial objects dominate the outer solar plane, in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune. These objects are made up of ice, dust, gas and water. Their internal clash throws some of them into our inner solar plane. Astronomical science refers to them as comets. Inside the solar plane, these comets appear bright. However, some of them appear faint and diffused. One such diffused comet is Ciffreo. It is the 108th comet whose orbital period could be determined. Ciffreo is a short–period comet of the Jupiter family. Let us learn about this comet in detail.
Comet 108P/ Ciffreo was discovered by a lady astronomer named Jacqueline Ciffreo (Caussols) on 8th November, 1985. This comet was observed on plates exposed with Schmidt of 0.9 m lens. One more image was obtained on 8th November. The discovery of the comet was confirmed by Koishikawa of Sendai Observatory, Ayashi Station on 8th November. The comet was located at the edge of a plate obtained by using a 300 mm lens. As it was discovered by Jacqueline Ciffreo, the comet is named after Ciffreo.
Observations about comet 108P/ Ciffreo include:
- This comet was observed to have a parabolic orbit in its first 2 days of observation.
- Perihelion date was indicated around October 8th, 1985.
- Its orbital inclination was noted at about 20°.
- Later observations noted an elliptical orbit.
- The coma was observed at 2.5 arc minutes and its tail was 2 arc minutes long.
- The comet appeared diffused and faint.
On its discovery, the magnitude of comet 108P/ Ciffreo was noted at 12. However, further observations on its recovery on 24th September, 1992 revealed a magnitude of 18.0. Images on 26th February, 1993 revealed a magnitude of 16.5. On 1st January, 2015, its last observation revealed a magnitude of about 16.8.
The perihelion distance of comet 108P/ Ciffreo was calculated at 2.05 AU. An elliptical orbit revealed the perihelion distance at 1.72 AU on 28th October, 1985. Last perihelion was noted at 1.709 AU on the last apparition on 18th October, 2014.
The perihelion date of 28th October indicated an orbital period of about 7.81 years for comet 108P/Ciffreo. However, the later revisions indicated a perihelion date of 30th October and the orbital period was calculated at 7.22 years–7.24 years on 18th October, 2014.
Comet 108P/ Ciffreo was recovered on 24th September, 1992 by J.V. Scottie (Lunar and Planetary Observatory, State of Arizona, USA). It was again recovered on 10th November, 1999 by astronomers at the Mount John Observatory in New Zealand.
The next perihelion is expected around the year 2021. Last perihelion of comet 108P/ Ciffreo was on 18th October, 2014.
