You can now buy the recently released book, Fall of a Thousand Suns: How Near Misses and Comet Impacts affected the Religious Beliefs of our Ancestors. It is available through iBooks and Amazon.
This website only lists information on modern-day comets and meteor showers. The book, however, thoroughly investigates how specific ancient impacts and near misses changed religious beliefs around the world.
Comet Blanpain
On November 28, 1819 Jean-Jacques Blanpain discovered a comet. The short-period Jupiter-Family comet was designated C/1819 W1. After this apparition the comet was "lost" and remained unobserved for nearly 200 years. It was renamed D/1819 W1, meaning it was "D"isappeared or "D"ead.
In 2003, an asteroid was discovered. It was named 2003 W25. In 2005, David Jewitt took another look at 2003 W25. Its orbital path and period matched that of the lost comet C/1819 W1. It also had a faint coma, meaning it probably was an nearly-exhausted comet. The object was officially renamed Comet 289P/Blanpain in July of 2013.
Contents:
- Discovery of Comet Blanpain (289P / Blanpain)
- How Long does Comet Blanpain take to orbit the Sun?
- Comet Blanpain's Next Perihelion
- Size of Comet Blanpain
Comet Blanpain is classified as a Jupiter Family Comet. It takes 5.32 years to orbit the Sun (JPL, 2014).
The next perihelion of Comet Blanpain will occur on August 2, 2030.
The orbital path of Comet Blanpain (289P / Blanpain)
Credit: JPL composited by Kevin Curran
The size of Comet Blanpain is unknown.