8P/Tuttle (also known as Tuttle's Comet or Comet Tuttle) is a periodic comet in our solar system. Perihelion was late January 2008, and as of February was visible telescopically to Southern Hemisphere observers in the constellation Eridanus. On December 30, 2007 it was in close conjunction with spiral galaxy M33. On January 2, 2008 it passed Earth at a distance of 0.25 AU.
Comet 8P/Tuttle is responsible for the Ursid meteor shower in late Decembe...
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8P/Tuttle (also known as Tuttle's Comet or Comet Tuttle) is a periodic comet in our solar system. Perihelion was late January 2008, and as of February was visible telescopically to Southern Hemisphere observers in the constellation Eridanus. On December 30, 2007 it was in close conjunction with spiral galaxy M33. On January 2, 2008 it passed Earth at a distance of 0.25 AU.
Comet 8P/Tuttle is responsible for the Ursid meteor shower in late December.
Predictions that the 2007 Ursid meteor shower could be expected to be stronger than usual due to the return of the comet, did not appear to materialize, as counts were in the range of normal distribution.
Radar observations of Comet Tuttle in January 2008 by the Arecibo Observatory show it to be a contact binary.
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