A New Orbit Determination for Bright Sungrazing Comet of 1843

Abstract

Given the critical role of the bright sungrazer C/1843 D1, also called the Great March Comet of 1843, in hypotheses of the origin and evolution of the Kreutz system, a new orbital investigation of this comet was desirable. Closely inspecting Kreutz's classical work, we conclude that his result of 512 yr for the orbital period, which has been endlessly quoted in the literature and employed in studies of the sungrazer system's evolution, is not realistic. We derive improved sets of orbital elements based on the best astrometric observations available from 1843, using new comparison star positions from the Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues. We find that the 1843 osculating value of the orbital period was most probably between 600 and 800 yr and that the observations are consistent with a forced value of 742 yr, in which case comet C/1843 D1 could be a major (and possibly the most massive) fragment of X/1106 C1, the celebrated sungrazer of 1106.