46P/Wirtanen
46P/Wirtanen is a small short-period comet with a current orbital period of 5.4 years. It was the original target for close investigation by the "Rosetta" spacecraft, planned by the European Space Agency, but an inability to meet the launch window caused "Rosetta" to be sent to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko instead. It belongs to the Jupiter family of comets, all of which have aphelia between 5 and 6 AU. Its diameter is estimated at . In December 2019, astronomers reported capturing an outburst of the comet in substantial detail by the TESS space telescope.
Q3559
comet
Concept
Q4130
orbit
Concept
Q48572
Rosetta
MISC
Q40218
spacecraft
Concept
Q42262
European Space Agency
ORG
Q855377
launch window
Concept
Q844672
67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
CEL
Q319
Jupiter
CEL
Q83481
aphelia
Concept
Q1811
AU
Concept
Q1323537
TESS space telescope
MISC
Q1808299
46P/Wirtanen
CEL
2019-12-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
December 2019
DATE
+46^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
46
NUMBER
+5.4^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
5.4
NUMBER
+67^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
67
NUMBER
+5^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
5
NUMBER
+6^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
6
NUMBER
parent astronomical body
item operated
destination point