The sky over Athens, Greece, 6/21/-1158,

as computed by John Walker's Home Planet program.

The orbital elements for the fictitious comet 'Phaethon' are based on the real Earth approaching object Oljato, which is thought to be an inactive comet.


Orbital elements: Compare with:
Number Name : Comet 'Phaethon'
Mean anomaly: 8.667953
Arg. perihelion: 94.31133
Long. node: 72.93695
Inclination: 5.016057
Eccentricity: 0.730421
Semimajor axis: 2.175264
Epoch (MJD): 48992.20
Number Name : 2201 Oljato
Mean anomaly: 8.667953
Arg. perihelion: 95.92833
Long. node: 76.91195
Inclination: 2.516057
Eccentricity: 0.711021
Semimajor axis: 2.175264
Epoch (MJD): 49001
The animation runs from 02:45 AM UTC with an Earth-comet distance of .005AU to 11:42 AM UTC with a very close pass to the aft of Earth. The first nine frames are one hour apart (02:45-10:45). The next image is at solar transit (11:15) followed by a view fifteen minutes later (11:30), then the next two frames are five minutes apart (11:35 and 11:40). A last image two minutes later (11:42) finishes the sequence. Intervals between successive frames are adjusted proportionately to reflect this non-linear sequence.


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