16P/Brooks


16P/Brooks, also known as Brooks 2, is a periodic comet discovered by William Robert Brooks on 7 July 1889, but failed to note any motion. He was able to confirm the discovery the next morning, having seen that the comet had moved north. On 1 August 1889, the famous comet hunter Edward Emerson Barnard discovered two fragments of the comet labeled "B" and "C" located 1 and 4.5 arc minutes away. On 2 August he found another four or five, but these were no longer visible the next day. On August 4, he observed two more objects, labeled "D" and "E". "E" disappeared by the next night and "D" was gone by the next week. Around mid-month, "B" grew large and faint, finally disappearing at the beginning of September. "C" managed to survive until mid-November 1889. The apparition ended on 13 January 1891. After the discovery apparition, the comet has always been over two magnitudes fainter.

1886

The comet's breakup is believed to have been caused by the passage of the comet within Jupiter's Roche limit around 20 July 1886, when it spent two days within the orbit of Io.
Date & time of
closest approach		Jupiter distance
Sun distance
Velocity
wrt Jupiter
Velocity
wrt Sun
Reference
1886-Jul-20 22:3241.140.1

The very close approach to Jupiter in 1886 resulted in the previous perihelion distance becoming the new aphelion distance.
EpochAphelion
Perihelion
Period
186514 AU5.5 AU31 years
18895.4 AU1.95 AU7 years

On 31 December 2016 the comet passed from Jupiter and on 5 July 2053 ± 3 days it will pass about from Jupiter.