P/2010 H2 (Vales)
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Jan Vales |
| Discovery site | Črni Vrh Observatory |
| Discovery date | 16 April 2010 |
| Orbital characteristics[4] | |
| Epoch | 8 May 2010 (JD 2455324.5) |
| Observation arc | 141 days |
| Earliest precovery date | 15 April 2010[2] |
| Number of observations | 1,631 |
| Aphelion | 4.593 AU |
| Perihelion | 3.108 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 3.851 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.19291 |
| Orbital period | 7.556 years |
| Inclination | 14.253° |
| 64.309° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 130.12° |
| Mean anomaly | 7.781° |
| Last perihelion | 10 March 2025 (unobserved) |
| Next perihelion | 19 September 2032[3] |
| TJupiter | 2.988 |
| Earth MOID | 2.129 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.613 AU |
| Physical characteristics[5] | |
Mean radius | 0.25 km (0.16 mi) |
| 0.04 (assumed) | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 7.0[4] |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 20.6 |
P/2010 H2 (Vales), is a distant Jupiter-family comet with a 7.5-year orbit around the Sun. Its frequent encounters with Jupiter also classify it as a quasi-Hilda comet.[6] As of 2025, it is the only comet discovered so far by Slovenian astronomer, Jan Vales. It last came to perihelion in March 2025 and will next come to perihelion in September 2032.[3] The comet has not been observed since the outburst during its discovery year of 2010.[5]
Observational history
The comet underwent a massive outburst when it was discovered by Jan Vales on 16 April 2010.[1] No prediscovery observations earlier than 15 April 2010 were found.[2] Later analysis of data from the Catalina Sky Survey indicated that the outburst may have been ongoing for 15 hours at the time, resulting in its brightness increased by a thousand-fold.[6]
Observations conducted on the day after discovery noted that its coma had undergone a significant increase in size, from 24–26 arcseconds to 34–38 arcseconds across.[7]
Although calculated to have a relatively short orbital period, it was not recovered during its next apparition in 2017.[8] On 17 March 2023, Toni Scarmato reported the observation of an object close to the predicted position of P/2010 H2, indicating a possible recovery of the comet.[9] Further analysis in 2024 did not match the position of the initial reports, concluding that Scarmato's find is likely a different object.[10]
Further search attempts in 2015 and 2025 from the Lowell Discovery Telescope failed to recover the comet, indicating a possible absolute nuclear magnitude fainter than 20.6, and a nucleus smaller than 0.5 km (0.31 mi) in diameter assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04.[5] However it is still likely that it may have become inactive after the 2010 outburst instead of simply disintegrating.[5]
References
- ^ a b J. Vales; R. A. Kowalski; W. Ryan; et al. (17 April 2010). B. G. Marsden (ed.). "Comet P/2010 H2 (Vales)". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 2249. Bibcode:2010CBET.2249....1V.
- ^ a b P. Balanutsa; D. Zimnukhov; E. Gorbovskoy; et al. (22 April 2010). "Prediscovery detection of the Comet P/2010 H2 by MASTER Robotic Net". The Astronomer's Telegram. 2578: 1. Bibcode:2010ATel.2578....1B.
- ^ a b "Horizons Batch for Vales (P/2010 H2) (90004090) on 2032-Sep-19" (Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons. Retrieved 27 February 2026. (JPL#26 Soln.date: 2021-Apr-15)
- ^ a b "P/2010 H2 (Vales) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
- ^ a b c d Q. Z. Ye; T. L. Farnham; P. Cai; L. Feaga (2026). "A Search for the Lost Comet P/2010 H2 (Vales)". arXiv:2603.16579 [astro-ph.EP].
- ^ a b D. C. Jewitt; Y. Kim (2020). "Outbursting Quasi-Hilda Asteroid P/2010 H2 (Vales)". The Planetary Science Journal. 1 (3): 77–89. arXiv:2010.05012. Bibcode:2020PSJ.....1...77J. doi:10.3847/PSJ/abbef6.
- ^ P. Birtwhistle; K. Hornoch; A. Novichonok; D. Chestnov (19 April 2010). B. G. Marsden (ed.). "Comet P/2010 H2 (Vales)". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 2253. Bibcode:2010CBET.2253....1B.
- ^ S. Yoshida (6 January 2024). "P/2010 H2 (Vales)". aerith.net. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
- ^ T. Scarmoto (28 March 2023). "Possible Recovery of Comet P/2010 H2". Facebook. ICQ Comet Observations. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
- ^ A. Coffinet; B. J. Gray; P. Birtwhistle (26 March 2024). "Recovery of P/2010 H2 (Vales)?". Groups.io. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
External links
- P/2010 H2 at the JPL Small-Body Database
- P/2010 H2 at Seiichi Yoshida's website