Comet 133P/Elst-Pizzaro

Comet 133P/Elst-Pizzaro photographed in a 10-minute R-filter exposure obtained on August 23, 1996 with the 1.5-m Danish telescope at La Silla and the DFOSC multi-mode instrument. The observers were visiting astronomers Heike Rauer (Paris Observatory, Meudon France) and Hermann Boehnhardt (Munich Observatory, Germany). The field of view is 8.1 x 6.6 arc minutes with North up and East to the left. At the time of the observation, the comet was 1.68 AU from Earth and 2.68 AU from the Sun.

Cometary activity was initially found in photographs by Guido Pizarro and Eric W. Elst with the ESO 1-metre Schmidt telescope at the La Silla Observatory on July 14, 1996. Eric W. Elst reported the discovery of comet activity on August 7, 1997.

Elst-Pizarro is a transition object with dual status as both comet and asteroid. As an asteroid it is designated as (7968) Elst-Pizarro. The object was reported in 1979 as minor planet 1979 OW7 with its image on a photographic plate being completely stellar in appearance. it has the orbit of a Main-belt Asteroid with semi major axis of 3.160 AU and period of 5.62 years, low inclination of 1.4 degrees and very low eccentricity of 0.1606156. The object has an asteroidal Jupiter Tisserand parameter of 3.185

Credit: ESO La Silla Observatory