# This file contains several successive sets of orbital elements # for Fragment A of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (1993e) showing # progressively better approximations for gravitational effects. # # According to http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/impact.html # fragments of comet 1993e collided with Jupiter starting at # 20:11:00 16 July 1994 UT # # The orbital elements were translated into Celestia's SSC format by # Selden Ball seb+cel@lns.cornell.edu on 19-Sep-2002. # and revised to use more appropriate values on 28-Sep-02. # # The cometary element format was translated into Celestia's asteroidal # element format using these equations to determine the period: # a = q/(1.0-e) # P = a **1.5 # # A short Fortran program supplied the unreasonable precision # used in the orbital elements below. # # The first set of cometary orbital elements was obtained from # IAU Circular 5800 - May 22, 1993 # which initially was found on the Web at # http://www.uiowa.edu/~lib/e-serials/iauc/58/5800.txt # (their e-library seems to be offline now, but it's still in Google's cache) # # IAU Circular 5800 - May 22, 1993 #[...] # Epoch = 1993 June 22.0 TT # T = 1998 Apr. 5.7514 TT Peri. = 22.9373 # e = 0.065832 Node = 321.5182 2000.0 # q = 4.822184 AU Incl. = 1.3498 # a = 5.162007 AU n = 0.0840381 P = 11.728 years #[...] # 1993 May 22 (5800) Brian G. Marsden # "SL9-930602" "Sol" { # Class "moon" # to show orbit even when not selected Class "comet" Mesh "asteroid.cms" Texture "asteroid.jpg" Radius 1.0 EllipticalOrbit { Period 11.72811422159726 PericenterDistance 4.822184 Eccentricity 0.065832 Inclination 1.3498 AscendingNode 321.5182 ArgOfPericenter 22.9373 MeanAnomaly 0.0 Epoch 2450909.2514 } Albedo 0.2 #? RotationPeriod 170.0 #? } # # The following orbital elements were found in a document on the Web at # http://ftp.seds.org/pub/astro/SL9/old/elements.nuc # titled # Osculating Heliocentric Orbital Elements for Shoemaker-Levy 9 Fragments # by D.K. Yeomans and P.W. Chodas / JPL # and dated 1994 February 22. # # Date e q Node w i Tp #94 Feb 25 .11364650 5.37748681 223.084371 359.838345 3.645048 94 Jun21.254902 # "SL9-940225" "Sol" { Class "comet" Mesh "asteroid.cms" Texture "asteroid.jpg" Radius 1.0 EllipticalOrbit { Period 14.94371529196758 PericenterDistance 5.37748681 Eccentricity 0.11364650 Inclination 3.645048 AscendingNode 223.084371 ArgOfPericenter 359.838345 MeanAnomaly 0.0 Epoch 2449524.754902 } Albedo 0.2 #? RotationPeriod 170.0 #? } # The following orbital elements were found in a document on the Web at # http://www.seds.org/pub/astro/SL9/info/elements.940711 # titled # Osculating Heliocentric Orbital Elements for Shoemaker-Levy 9 Fragments #by D.K. Yeomans and P.W. Chodas / JPL # dated 1994 July 11 # # Date e q Node w i Tp #94 Jul 7 .64259744 5.34751808 221.913303 349.662467 13.56818 94 Feb 26.396222 "SL9-940707" "Sol" { Class "comet" Mesh "asteroid.cms" Texture "asteroid.jpg" Radius 1.0 EllipticalOrbit { Period 57.87511993072370 PericenterDistance 5.34751808 Eccentricity 0.64259744 Inclination 13.56818 AscendingNode 221.913303 ArgOfPericenter 349.662467 MeanAnomaly 0.0 Epoch 2449409.896222 } Albedo 0.2 #? RotationPeriod 170.0 #? } # The following orbital elements were found in a document on the Web at # http://www.seds.org/pub/astro/SL9/info/elements.940711 # titled # Osculating Heliocentric Orbital Elements for Shoemaker-Levy 9 Fragments #by D.K. Yeomans and P.W. Chodas / JPL # dated 1994 July 11 # # Date e q Node w i Tp #94 Jul 12 .89932956 5.33114965 222.569698 348.650441 17.00282 94 Mar 4.597500 # # Unfortuantely, orbital elements for times closer to the collision included # eccentricities greater than 1. Unforetunately, Celestia does not yet handle # hyperbolic orbits since it insists on having a period in the elements. "SL9-940712" "Sol" { Class "comet" Mesh "asteroid.cms" Texture "asteroid.jpg" Radius 1.0 EllipticalOrbit { Period 385.3704058754249 PericenterDistance 5.33114965 Eccentricity 0.89932956 Inclination 17.00282 AscendingNode 222.569698 ArgOfPericenter 348.650441 MeanAnomaly 0.0 Epoch 2449416.097500 } Albedo 0.2 #? RotationPeriod 170.0 #? }