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46P/Wirtanen is a short-periodic 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. It belongs to the Jupiter family of comets, all of which have aphelia between 5 and 6 AU.
| Diameter: | 1.4 km |
| Orbital period: | 5.4 years |
| Orbital eccentricity: | 0.66 |
| Orbital inclination: | 11.7 degrees |
| Discovered: | 1948 |
46P/Wirtanen was discovered photographicallyA photograph (often just called a photo is an image (or a representation of that on e. paper) created by collecting and focusing electromagnetic radiation. The most common photographs are those created of visible wavelengths, producing permanent records o on January 17January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 348 days remaining (349 in leap years) Events 1562 Huguenots were recognized under the Edict of St. 1773 Captain James Cook becomes the first explorer to cross the Antarctic Circl, 1948, by Carl A. WirtanenCarl Alvar Wirtanen ( 1910 1990) was an American astronomer who worked at Lick Observatory. He discovered periodic comet 46P/Wirtanen, as well as eight asteroids, including notably the Apollo asteroid (29075) 1950 DA, which is considered to have a non-neg. The plate was exposed January 15January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 350 days remaining (351 in leap years). Events 1559 Elizabeth I of England is crowned in Westminster Abbey. 1582 Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to Poland. 1759 The British Museu, during a stellar proper motion survey for the Lick ObservatoryThe Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, near San Jose, California, but is managed from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where its sci. Due to a limit number of initial observations, it took more than a yearA year is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. By extension, this can be applied to any planet: for example, "Martian year". Seasonal year A seasonal year is the time between successive recurrences to recognize this object as a short-periodic comet.