Discovery
Harvard Announcement Card, No. 768 (1946 Sep. 10) and IAU Circular, No. 1059 (1946 Sep. 10) reported that D. C. Berry (New Zealand) discovered this comet on photographic plates exposed on 1946 September 2, 3, and 4. He estimated the magnitude as 11 on the first and last dates, and 10 on the middle date. It was described as diffuse, with a central condensation.
Positions
Analysis
L. E. Cunningham tried to compute an orbit using the three published positions, but concluded, "The three positions of comet Berry cannot be represented by any orbit." He added, "The large acceleration along the path can be represented by assuming the comet was close to the earth, but then the curvature of the apparent path would have been appreciably greater than observed.".
Sources:
Harvard Announcement Card, No. 768 (1946 Sep. 10)
IAU Circular, No. 1059 (1946 Sep. 10)
Harvard Announcement Card, No. 770 (1946 Sep. 19)
IAU Circular, No. 1065 (1946 Oct. 25)
Current | Periodic | Sungrazers | Links | Comet Information Media Inquiries
If you have any questions, please email me