10P/Tempel
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "For". Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
10P/Tempel, also known as Tempel 2, is a periodic Jupiter-family comet with a 5-year orbital period. It was discovered on 4 July 1873 by Wilhelm Tempel.[1] At the perihelion passage on 2 August 2026 the solar elongation is calculated at 164 degrees, with apparent magnitude approximately 8,[2] with closest approach to Earth on 3 August 2026 at a distance of Template:Convert.Template:R
| Date & time of closest approach |
Earth distance (AU) |
Sun distance (AU) |
Velocity wrt Earth (km/s) |
Velocity wrt Sun (km/s) |
Uncertainty region (3-sigma) |
Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-Aug-03 20:59 ± 1 min | Template:Convert | Template:Convert | 6.5 | 31.0 | ± 204 km | Horizons |
Physical characteristics
The comet nucleus is estimated to be roughly the size of Halley's Comet at 10.6 kilometers in diameter with a low albedo of 0.022.[3] The nucleus is dark because hydrocarbons on the surface have been converted to a dark, tar like substance by solar ultraviolet radiation. The nucleus is large enough that even near aphelion (furthest distance from the Sun which is near the orbit of Jupiter) the comet remains brighter than about magnitude 21.
During the 2010 apparition the comet brightened to about apparent magnitude 8.[2] The most favorable apparition of 10P/Tempel 2 was in 1925 when it came within Template:Convert of Earth with an apparent magnitude of 6.5.[1]
Proposed exploration
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory proposed a flyby of the comet with a flight spare of Mariner 4.Template:R The probe was instead used for a Venus flyby as Mariner 5.Template:R
10P/Tempel was to be the target of the NASA part of the International Comet Mission after transporting a European probe to a flyby of Halley's Comet.Template:R The plan was to use Solar electric propulsion to get the craft to orbit the comet.Template:R The program was cancelled in November 1979.Template:R
References
External links
- Template:JPL Small Body
- Elements and Ephemeris for 10P/Tempel – Minor Planet Center
- 10P/Tempel 2 / 2010 – Seiichi Yoshida @ aerith.net
- 10P/Tempel 2 (2010) (astrosurf)