C/1959 Q2 (Alcock)
< C
Comet Alcock imaged by Elizabeth Roemer from the US Naval Observatory on 1 September 1959. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | George E. D. Alcock |
| Discovery site | Peterborough, England |
| Discovery date | 30 August 1959 |
| Designations | |
| 1959 VI, 1959f | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 4 September 1959 (JD 2436815.5) |
| Observation arc | 5 days |
| Number of observations | 14 |
| Perihelion | 0.166 AU |
| Eccentricity | 1.00043 |
| Inclination | 108.04° |
| 225.84° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 300.54° |
| Mean anomaly | –0.002° |
| Last perihelion | 15 September 1959 |
| Earth MOID | 0.161 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 2.839 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 8.1–11.0 |
| 4.7 (1959 apparition) | |
Comet Alcock, formally designated as C/1959 Q2, is a relatively bright hyperbolic comet that only appeared for a week in September 1959. It was the second comet discovered by English astronomer George Alcock.