108P/Ciffréo

Jupiter-family comet February 2026 108P/Ciffréo Comet 108PCiffreo - Ajacba07f2 hr.jpg Comet Ciffréo imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope from 31 January to 24 May 2022.Kim_2023 IAUC_4135 Jacqueline Ciffréo Caussols, France 8 November 1985 P/1985 V1, P/1992 S1 1985 XVI, 1993 I 1985p, 1992s jpldata MPC 21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5) 36.38 years 2,612 1.664 AU 5.824 AU 3.744 AU 0.581 7.245 years 11.432° 50.274° 354.56° 208.49° 2.750 0.535 AU 0.283 AU jpldata 0.5 km miKim_2023 10.9 15.9 11 October 2021 9 December 2028Horizons2028 108P/Ciffréo is a Jupiter-family comet with an orbital period of 7.25 years around the Sun. It is the only comet discovered by French astronomer, Jacqueline Ciffréo.cometography The comet is noted for having a peculiar double morphology, in which the nucleus is accompanied by a comoving, detached, diffuse tail, which is probably a perspective artifact of particles ejected sunwards and then repelled by solar wind.Kim_2023 Manzini_2022 Observational history The comet was discovered by Jacqueline Ciffréo on 8 November 1985 using a 0.9 m Schmidt camera at Caussols. The comet was then a diffuse object with an apparent magnitude of 10. H. Kosai from the Tokyo Observatory noticed on 9 November that it also had a faint tail about 1.5 arcminutes long.IAUC_4135 An elliptical orbit was published by Daniel W. E. Green on 18 November, with an estimated orbital period of 7.81 years, while perihelion had taken place on 28 October 1985 at a distance of 1.72 AU e6km unit.IAUC_4137 Further observations revealed that the perihelion was on 30 October and the orbital period of the comet was 7.22 years.cometography In December 1985, a detacted coma or tail was detected 6 arcseconds from the nucleus of the comet and extending for 20 arcseconds to the north-east.Levy_1986 The visual magnitude of the comet was estimated to be 12.5.IAUC_4158 The comet was recovered on 24 September 1992 by J. V. Scotti with the Spacewatch telescope.IAUC_5618 The comet passed perihelion on 23 January 1993. The next perihelion was in April 2000 and the comet was observed in November and December 1999 and November and December 2000.cometography During the 2014 and 2021 apparition the comet featured a detached coma, similar to that observed in 1985.Manzini_2022 The peculiar morphology was attributed to a possible fragmentation event,Jewitt_2022 but further observations revealed it is most probably an artifact of the turnaround of particles ejected sunward and repelled by sunlight.Kim_2023 Orbit The comet is at a 5:3 orbital resonance with Jupiter, allowing for frequent planetary encounters.Benest_1993 Between 1900 and 2183, its closest approach to Jupiter will occur on 18 December 2076 at a distance of 0.28 AU e6km unit.jpldata Initial orbital calculations of the comet indicated that it was a recently captured object. However, follow-up studies in 1990 later revealed that its dynamical behavior corresponds to a relatively "aged" object instead, where it has been on its current orbit for at least 1,500 revolutions since at least 12,000 BC.Benest_1990 References D. Benest J. Ciffréo J. L. Heudier A Study of the Prediscovery Motion of Comet P/Ciffréo and its Future Astronomy & Astrophysics 1990 228 2 539–545 1990A&A...228..539B 0004-6361 D. Benest R. Gonczi Stochasticity of Two Comets in Resonance with Jupiter Celestial Mechanics & Dynamical Astronomy 1993 57 1–2 109–112 1993CeMDA..57..109B 10.1007/BF00692466 free G. W. Kronk 108P/Ciffréo https://cometography.com/pcomets/108p.html Cometography.com 2023-03-26 Horizons Batch for 108P/Ciffréo (90000970) on 2028-Dec-09 JPL Horizons Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND=%27DES%3D108P%3BCAP%27&START_TIME=%272028-Dec-09%27&STOP_TIME=%272028-Dec-10%27&STEP_SIZE=%2730%20min%27&QUANTITIES=%2719%27 2023-04-29 (Soln.date: 2022-Aug-16) J. L. Heudier J. Ciffréo H. Kosai B. G. Marsden Comet Ciffréo (1985p) http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/04100/04135.html IAU Circular 1985-11-12 4135 1 1985IAUC.4135....1H 0081-0304 D. W. Green Periodic Comet Ciffréo (1985p) http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/04100/04137.html IAU Circular 1985-11-18 4137 1 1985IAUC.4137....1G 0081-0304 S. M. Larson D. H. Levy A. R. Klemola etal B. G. Marsden Periodic Comet Ciffréo (1985p) http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/04100/04158.html IAU Circular 1986-01-03 4158 2 1986IAUC.4158....2L 0081-0304 J. V. Scotti B. G. Marsden D. W. Green Periodic Comet Ciffréo (1992s) http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/05600/05618.html IAU Circular 1992-09-25 5618 1 1992IAUC.5618....1S 0081-0304 D. C. Jewitt J. Agarwal Y. Kim etal Disintegrating Comet 108P/Ciffreo HST Proposal 2022-01-01 16904 2022hst..prop16904J 108P/Ciffréo – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=108P ssd.jpl.nasa.gov Jet Propulsion Laboratory 2023-03-26 Y. Kim D. C. Jewitt J. Luu etal Comet 108P/Ciffréo: The Blob The Astronomical Journal 2023 165 4 150–158 2023AJ....165..150K 2302.03697 10.3847/1538-3881/acba07 free D. H. Levy S. M. Larson The Unusual Dust Coma of Comet P/Ciffréo (1985p) Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society 1986 18 811 1986BAAS...18..811L F. Manzini P. Ochner V. Oldani etal Comet 108P/Ciffréo is not splitting https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=15177 The Astronomer's Telegram 2022-01-25 15177 1 2022ATel15177....1M 108P/Ciffréo Orbit http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=108P Minor Planet Center 2026-02-16 External links 1000013 108P 108P/Ciffréo at the Minor Planet Center database 108P/Ciffréo at Seiichi Yoshida's website 107P/Wilson–Harrington 109P/Swift–Tuttle Category:Periodic comets 0108 0108 0108 0108 0108 * *