Comet 39P/Oterma
cbellh47 Jun 24, 2013
I wanted to investigate the orbit of 39P/Oterma by generating some test particle clones. However, I can't get an orbit solution from the observations in MPCOBS. I know that the object encountered Jupiter in 1963 and shifted its orbit semi major axis from less than a_Jupiter to grater than a_Jupiter. So I tried to get an orbit to calculate using observations from before the encounter and again with observations from after the encounter. I also tried to constrain to known MPC orbit values and orbit epoch values. There are MPC orbits for 7 epochs.
I must be missing something.
I have no troubles with other objects so far.
I give in and ask for help or ideas.
Charles