87P/Bus

87P/Bus is an Encke-type comet with a current orbital period of 6.37 years around the Sun. It is the only comet discovered by Australian astronomer, Schelte J. Bus.

Observational history

It was discovered by Schelte J. Bus on the night of 2 March 1981 from a photographic plate taken with the 1.2m UK Schmidt telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory. Additional observations by Kenneth S. Russell noticed a faint tail about 20 arcseconds in length to the northwest, estimated to be 17.5 in apparent magnitude. Preliminary orbital calculations in 9 March 1981 had Brian G. Marsden to conclude that the comet may be a short-periodic one, which was later confirmed after Bus was able to find precovery images as early as 9–13 February 1981.
It has been observed on each of its subsequent apparitions, most recently in 2020.

Physical characteristics

Preliminary CCD photometry from the La Palma Observatory in December 1998 obtained an upper limit value of around for the comet's nuclear radius. Later observations from the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 revised the size of its nucleus, which is now estimated to be km in radius. Hubble data also showed the comet to be elongated in shape, with an a/b ratio greater than 2.2. Its rotational period is estimated to be around hours in length.

Orbit

A close approach to Jupiter on 13 May 1952, at a distance of, lowered the orbital period from 12.46 years and the perihelion distance from 4.43 AU to 6.43 years and 2.13 AU respectively. Another close approach to Jupiter on 24 February 2023, at a distance of, raised the perihelion to 3.62 AU and the orbital period to 9.58 years.