Talk:Comet Kohoutek

untitled
Does the comet still exist, or did it disintegrate as it approached the sun?

Father Rob Lyons 23:27, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Kohoutek still exists, and is now in the outer solar system (or perhaps farther, I am not sure) out. Scientists believe the comet has an approximately 75,000 year orbital period, so we won't be seeing it again in our lifetimes.
 * Kohoutek was last observed on 1974-Apr-26 (4 months after perihelion) when it was 2.5 au from the Sun (Mars is 1.5au from the Sun.) -- Kheider (talk) 09:37, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

Pronunciation
How do you pronounce it? Ko-how-tek? Ko-hoo-tek? Someone who knows, add a pronunciation guide plz. Happywaffle (talk) 15:12, 3 October 2008 (UTC)  Or cow - how - teek

"ko-HOOT-ik". In addition to being the discovering astronomer's surname, the word 'kohoutek' means a juvenile male chicken, i.e., a 'little rooster'. in several Central- and Eastern-European languages. (Kohut ["ko-HOOT"] = adult rooster; suffix "ek" makes it diminutive.) All that, plus $5, will get you a crappy cup of coffee at Starbucks. Manburger 486 (talk) 03:26, 17 February 2013 (UTC)

Perihelion date
The image accompanying this article indicates the perihelion date as the 27th rather than the 26th of December 1973. Given the image is taken from NASA, is the date in the article a typo?

Please take note: there's an D.J.Batzer's article in Malaysia's Star on 6 Feb 2006 about the mystery of Kahoutek comet. Wow! ^-^

che 19:40, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

According to NASA, Comet Kohoutek reached perihelion on December 28, 1973. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-404/ch4.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by SunnySullivan (talk • contribs) 18:55, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

How is Comet Kohoutek a period comet?
Wikipedia says
 * Comet Kohoutek is a long period comet. At its apparition on 1973 it has a hyperbolic trajectory (e > 1) due to gravitational perturbations from giant planets. But actualy it have a long period, it previous apparition was about 150,000 years ago, and it next apparition will be in about 75,000 years.

If a Comet Kohoutek has a hyperbolic trajectory then how will it return? Mschribr (talk) 17:14, 18 September 2008 (UTC)


 * All comets belong to our Solar system, and far beyond from Sun they moving around the Sun with certain period. So, they eccentricities cannot be larger than 1. But sometimes Giant planets affects they motions, and they move to the inner Solar System. Sometimes such comets, when they in the inner solar system, have e>1. "Original" 1/a parameter have ALWAYS positive value, and "future" 1/a parameters usually have positive value, too. Our Solar System is not a static system. It is dynamic N-body gravitational system. Orbital parameters of all objects changes continuously. — Chesnok (talk) 17:46, 18 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Putting it simple, when the comet was close to Sun, inside the orbit of Jupiter, it moved along a hyperbola. However beyound the orbit of Jupiter it came under the gravitational influence of the pair Sun+Jupiter, which has a higher mass than just Sun alone. This means that far from the Sun comet's trajectory became elliptical. Ruslik (talk) 19:27, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
 * What is a in 1/a? Is it the semi-major axis? Why can’t a comet exit the solar system because its eccentricity is big? Mschribr (talk) 19:50, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
 * a is a semi-major axis. 1/a is a reverse semi-major axis&mdash;it is often used for convinience instead of a. Eccentricity exceeded 1 only in the inner solar system, when the comet move under the influence of Sun only. In the outer solar system Jupiter came into the game and the orbit became elliptical. Strictly speeking the orbit of this comet was neither elliptical nor hyperbolic&mdash;it was more complicated. However in diffrerent parts of the Solar System it may be approximated by either ellipse or hyperbola. Ruslik (talk) 05:35, 19 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Can the comet be from outside the solar system and is passing through our star system? Can we measure the current eccentricity of the comet? Mschribr (talk) 09:55, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Currently the comet is not observable&mdash;it is too far from the Sun. Ruslik (talk) 10:09, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The tone of the statement “Comet Kohoutek is a long period comet” is factual. This is a theory. The wikipedia should say currently the comet is not observable because it is too far from the Sun. The current theory is Comet Kohoutek is a long period comet, was previously here 150,000 years ago and will return in 75,000 years. Mschribr (talk) 12:02, 22 September 2008 (UTC)


 * The heliocentric orbit becomes bound to the Sun by 1978. -- Kheider (talk) 10:09, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

Will Voyager 1 also return?
If comets with e>1 change to long period comets then what about the Voyager 1 spacecraft? Voyager 1 has an e>1 will it also become less than 1 and return to the sun? Mschribr (talk) 15:33, 9 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Voyager is currently moving far from known planets and therefore its eccentricity, which significantly exceeds unity (e>1), is not going to change. Voyager, hence, is going to leave Solar System. Ruslik (talk) 18:22, 9 November 2008 (UTC)
 * What was the distance and eccentricity of Kohoutek when it was last observed? Mschribr (talk) 20:48, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
 * According to Czech Wikipedia, comet C/1973 E1 (Kohoutek) was last observed on April 29, 1974. At that date eccentricity was 1.0000086 and heliocentric distance was 2.5649707 AU (calculated using JPL HORIZONS). However, on 1990-01-01 simulated eccentricity was 0.9999391 < 1.0 — Chesnok (talk) 19:30, 11 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Why was there no observation after April 29, 1974 only 4 months after perihelion? There was an observation over 9 months before perihelion. Mschribr (talk) 16:02, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Because since April the comet was in conjunction with Sun. — Chesnok (talk) 23:23, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Observe comet Kohoutek at 60 AU
Planets around stars 130 light years away have been observed. Can we observe comet Kohoutek 60 AU away? Mschribr (talk) 21:15, 17 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Most exo-planets have not been directly observed. The motion they induce on there host stars have been measured. Halley's comet at 28AU was difficult enough to detect. -- Kheider (talk) 13:34, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Burl Ives
Folk singer Burl Ives recorded a preposterous song about the comet. It's listed in his article as: "The Tail of the Comet Kohoutek / A Very Fine Lady (1974, 7 in., 45 rpm, MCA 40175)" I saw him perform it on The Tonight Show (or one of the similar competing shows). In the song, he imagines himself the comet, and the lyrics went something like "I'd fly higher and higher, with my rear end on fire . . . ," and of how the kids would be awaiting his return in thousands of years. Mercifully forgotten. . . until now. WHPratt (talk) 17:08, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Pink Floyd
How could Pink Floyd have recorded an album celebrating Comet Kohoutek in February 1972 when the comet was discovered in March 1973? Bayowolf (talk) 16:59, 29 November 2019 (UTC)

The Simpsons
Mentioned in passing in S6E14 "Bart's Comet". 2A00:23C5:FE56:6C01:FC44:48D:2670:3DC7 (talk) 15:02, 8 December 2023 (UTC)

Contradiction
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4208/app.f.htm :

"Kohoutek was also unique in being apparently a 'new' comet, one that had never before passed the sun. This at least was offered as an explanation for its considerably diminished brightness after perihelion."

In other words, it wasn't bright because it hadn't passed the sun before.

But this article claims that it was thought that it would be bright because it hadn't passed the sun, with the implication that it wasn't bright because it had passed the sun before.

There is no way to reconcile this. Ken Arromdee (talk) 16:11, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Additionally, if this is it's first visit, then it can't have also appeared about 150,000 years ago. 69.165.226.92 (talk) 17:38, 13 October 2012 (UTC)

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Aphelion to 4 to 5 million miles??
I thought the aphelion for Kowoutek supposed to be atleast many hundred astronomical units, or possibly it had a hyperbolic orbit, how could the aphelion ever be closer to the sun than Mercury? Here's the passage:"Maran believed that the comet initially had a perihelion farther out than the orbit of Jupiter until it was gravitationally perturbed by a passing star, lowering its perihelion to within the orbit of Mercury and its aphelion to 4–5 million mi (6–8 million km) from the Sun; additional gravitational interactions between the comet and the planets would have shortened the comet's orbital period further to about 75,000 years." Is this an error?Rich (talk) 17:21, 3 August 2022 (UTC)


 * I have re-computed the orbital solutions for epochs 1600 and 2500 using JPL Horizons. The orbital period would have been millions of years inbound and around 80k years outbound. -- Kheider (talk) 21:48, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
 * So aphelion was a typo for orbital period, and 4-5 million mi was meant to be 4-5 million years.Rich (talk) 21:28, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

Ako nalang sana
She said she said she's from hawai do you know how to speak bisaya? 😁

'' 49.149.68.54 (talk) 13:27, 18 January 2024 (UTC)