14P/Wolf is a Jupiter-family comet roughly in diameter with an 8.8-year orbit around the Sun. It is the first of three comets discovered by German astronomer, Max Wolf. The current orbit does not bring it closer than about from Earth. It reached perihelion on 19 September 2026, its next perihelion is on 19 June 2035.
Observational history Max Wolf discovered the comet from Heidelberg, Germany on 17 September 1884, about 15 days before it passed from Earth. It was later rediscovered by, but not credited to, Ralph Copeland (Dun Echt Observatory, Aberdeen, Scotland) on September 23.
Orbit Perihelion distanceat different epochs Epoch Perihelion(AU) 1869 2.74 1878 1.57 1925 2.44 2009 2.72 2044 2.44 2068 2.62
Before approaching Jupiter in 1875, the comet had a perihelion of and an orbital period of 8.84 years, and the approach dropped perihelion to . An approach to Jupiter in September 1922 lifted perihelion to . The current perihelion of 2.7 AU is from when the comet passed Jupiter on 13 August 2005. Another close approach to Jupiter on 10 March 2041 will return the comet to parameters similar to the period 1925–2000.
Physical characteristics In 2005, the comet's nucleus is estimated to have an effective radius of kilometers. Follow-up observations in 2017 revealed that 14P/Wolf rotates around its axis once every hours.
Potential meteor shower In 1999, Dr. Luboš Neslušan published a study where he proposed that 14P/Wolf is potentially associated with two meteor streams, one overlapping with that of 206P/Barnard–Boattini and the other coinciding with that of the Alpha Capricornids meteor shower. However, the comet never went closer than from the Earth, and thus is unlikely to be a parent body of any known meteor stream. Later studies in 2010 and 2017 now conclude that 169P/NEAT and possibly 789058 () were the parent bodies of the Alpha Capricornids.
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
at the Minor Planet Center database 14P/Wolf at Gary W. Kronk's Cometography 14P/Wolf at Kazuo Kinoshita's Comets 14P/Wolf at Seiichi Yoshida's website 14P/Wolf at Gideon van Buitenen's website