The comets of the Marsden group have some interesting properties. First, their orbits lead to close encounters with the Earth. When having perihelion around May 11, these comets can come as close as 0.025 AU about a month later (as happened with C/1999 J6). Second, these comets may be connected with the daylight meteor stream of the Arietids and with 96P/Machholz and the Quadrantids. This is indicated by the almost similar longitudes and latitudes of perihelion, despite substantial differences in the other orbital elements.
Paths of the Marsden group comets in the SOHO/C2 FOV. The paths are given for the middle of the month. Images prepared by R. Kracht. Click for a larger image.
Marsden group (34 members*)
Name T q (AU) w node i L B Reference
C/1996 V2 (SOHO) 1996 Nov 11.78 0.0488 11.84 89.36 33.41 99.29 6.49 MPEC 2005-F31
C/1997 B5 (SOHO) 1997 Jan 29.51 0.0512 23.98 78.00 25.10 99.94 9.93 MPEC 2006-C49
C/1997 B6 (SOHO) 1997 Jan 29.61 0.0501 23.13 76.41 24.95 97.58 9.54 MPEC 2006-C49
C/1997 B7 (SOHO) 1997 Jan 29.65 0.0490 22.39 74.98 24.78 95.49 9.19 MPEC 2006-C49
C/1998 A2 (SOHO) 1998 Jan 03.74 0.0410 26.31 80.78 27.93 104.38 11.98 MPC 45180
C/1998 A3 (SOHO) 1998 Jan 09.30 0.0419 22.97 80.73 27.35 101.36 10.33 MPC 45180
C/1998 A4 (SOHO) 1998 Jan 10.79 0.0431 21.35 81.03 26.87 100.25 9.47 MPEC 2002-F70
P/1999 J6 (SOHO) 1999 May 11.59 0.0492 22.47 81.69 26.53 102.00 9.83 MPC 39791 A
C/1999 N5 (SOHO) 1999 Jul 11.24 0.0496 27.20 82.49 27.08 107.08 12.01 MPC 45181
C/1999 P6 (SOHO) 1999 Aug 05.11 0.0494 21.49 82.01 26.57 101.41 9.43 MPC 45181
C/1999 P8 (SOHO) 1999 Aug 14.99 0.0494 21.28 81.85 26.56 101.06 9.34 MPC 45182
C/1999 P9 (SOHO) 1999 Aug 15.04 0.0493 21.51 81.74 26.55 101.16 9.43 MPC 45182
C/1999 U2 (SOHO) 1999 Oct 25.23 0.0491 21.90 82.02 26.94 101.75 9.77 MPC ?????
C/2000 C7 (SOHO) 2000 Feb 04.48 0.0481 22.34 81.06 24.89 101.50 9.21 MPEC 2002-K48
C/2000 C3 (SOHO) 2000 Feb 04.59 0.0487 23.47 81.85 24.97 103.33 9.68 MPC 44860
C/2000 C4 (SOHO) 2000 Feb 05.17 0.0487 23.05 81.95 24.97 103.04 9.51 MPC 44860
C/2002 R1 (SOHO) 2002 Sep 02.54 0.0492 33.67 70.43 22.19 102.10 12.09 MPEC 2002-R57
C/2002 R4 (SOHO) 2002 Sep 03.31 0.0486 22.15 79.85 28.72 99.50 10.44 MPEC 2009-T26
C/2002 R4 (SOHO) 2002 Sep 03.30 0.0520 20.16 85.69 28.31 103.60 9.41 MPEC 2002-S35
C/2002 V5 (SOHO) 2002 Nov 12.42 0.0506 19.13 86.61 34.24 102.61 10.63 MPEC 2003-C02
C/2003 Q1 (SOHO) 2003 Aug 21.00 0.0499 37.64 85.11 26.31 119.77 15.70 MPEC 2008-Y06
C/2003 Q6 (SOHO) 2003 Aug 26.50 0.0494 25.14 83.65 25.33 106.64 10.47 MPEC 2008-Y06
P/2004 V9 (SOHO) 2004 Nov 08.56 0.0492 22.51 81.51 26.52 101.86 9.84 MPEC 2004-X73 A
C/2004 V10 (SOHO) 2004 Nov 08.45 0.0488 22.79 81.86 26.40 102.48 9.92 MPEC 2004-X73
C/2004 W10 (SOHO) 2004 Nov 29.26 0.0467 25.29 82.11 25.97 105.12 10.78 MPEC 2005-A13
C/2005 E4 (SOHO) 2005 Mar 10.54 0.0487 22.24 80.60 26.43 100.71 9.70 MPEC 2005-E87
C/2005 G2 (SOHO) 2005 Apr 14.26 0.0492 23.53 80.69 26.84 101.92 10.38 MPEC 2005-G94
C/2005 W1 (SOHO) 2005 Nov 17.28 0.0482 23.44 80.29 24.88 101.76 9.63 MPEC 2005-W07
C/2005 W5 (SOHO) 2005 Nov 29.91 0.0494 22.26 81.77 26.91 101.82 9.87 MPEC 2005-X14
C/2006 E2 (SOHO) 2006 Mar 15.42 0.0482 21.86 80.94 24.50 101.00 8.88 MPEC 2006-F50
C/2006 F3 (SOHO) 2006 Mar 25.54 0.0510 19.10 85.31 23.02 102.99 7.35 MPEC 2006-F50
C/2007 Y4 (SOHO) 2007 Dec 22.16 0.0505 23.03 82.08 28.59 102.55 10,79 MPEC 2008-B49
C/2008 X6 (SOHO) 2008 Dec 07.55 0.0497 19.57 78.36 24.61 96.27 8.02 MPEC 2008-Y06
C/2008 Y11 (SOHO) 2008 Dec 22.24 0.0476 20.96 78.80 24.09 98.07 8.40 MPEC 2008-F17
C/2009 J12 (SOHO) 2009 May 15.68 0.0417 28.20 78.41 23.04 104.67 10.66 MPEC 2009-N49
P/2010 H3 (SOHO) 2010 Apr 19.90 0.0476 25.52 77.87 23.91 101.45 10.06 MPEC 2010-H37 A
Mean 0.0484 23.57 80.70 26.18 102.12 10.04
Standard Deviation 0.0025 4.55 3.70 2.47 3.88 1.53
(w, node, i, L and B in degrees)
* Note that some of these comets might be identical. Until final confirmation they will
be listed here as individual ones. See the respective MPECs for tentative linkages.
C/2004 V9
/
C/1999 J6
C/1999 P6? \ /
C/1999 P8? - C/1993 ?? C/2005 G2
C/1999 P9? / \ /
C/1999 N5
\
C/2005 E4
A C/1999 J6 = C/2004 V9 (MPEC 2004-X73) = C/2010 H3 (MPEC 2010-H37, MPEC 2010-J28)
? C/1999 N5 = C/2005 E4 (MPEC 2005-E87)
? C/1999 N5 = C/2005 G2 (MPEC 2005-H24)
? C/2000 C4 = C/2005 W1 (MPEC 2005-W07)
? C/2000 O3 = C/2005 W4 (MPEC 2005-X14)
? C/1999 U2 = C/2005 W5 (MPEC 2005-Y27)
? C/2002 R4 = C/2007 Y4 (MPEC 2008-B49)
? C/2002 R1 = C/2008 A3 (MPEC 2008-B61)
Possible Marsden group comets waiting for confirmation:
2010-06-20 C2 Rainer Kracht 2010-06-21 C2 Bo Zhou 2011-02-15/16 C3, C2 Rob Matson 2011-05-19/20 C2 Masanoti Uchina 2011-06-10 C2 Rainer Kracht 2011-07-17 C3 Alan Watson