129P/Shoemaker–Levy

{{Short description|Periodic comet with 7 year orbit}}

{{For|other comets discovered by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker, and David H. Levy|Comet Shoemaker|Comet Levy}}

{{Infobox comet

| name=129P/Shoemaker-Levy

| image= Jupiter-Family Comets Johnson and Shoemaker-Levy 3.jpg

| caption = Comet Shoemaker-Levy 3 (bottom) by Spitzer Space Telescope

| discoverer=Carolyn S. Shoemaker
Eugene Merle Shoemaker
David H. Levy

| discovery_date=February 7, 1991

| designations=1990 XXVII; 1996 U1

| epoch=March 6, 2006

| semimajor=3.741 AU

| perihelion=2.807 AU

| aphelion=4.676 AU

| eccentricity=0.2497

| period=7.237 a

| inclination= 5.0108°

| last_p=2022-Nov-30{{cite web

|title=129P/Shoemaker-Levy Orbit

|url=http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=129P

|publisher=Minor Planet Center

|accessdate=2014-06-17}}
February 11, 2014{{cite web

|date=2005-10-27

|title=129P/Shoemaker-Levy 3 (NK 1273)

|publisher=OAA Computing and Minor Planet Sections

|author=Syuichi Nakano

|author-link=Syuichi Nakano

|url=http://www.oaa.gr.jp/~oaacs/nk/nk1273.htm

|accessdate=2012-02-25}}
June 5, 2005

| next_p=2031-Nov-05{{cite web

|title=Horizons Batch for 129P/Shoemaker-Levy 3 (90001036) on 2031-Nov-05

|publisher=JPL Horizons

|type=Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive

|url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND=%27DES%3D129P%3BCAP%27&START_TIME=%272031-Nov-05%27&STOP_TIME=%272031-Nov-06%27&STEP_SIZE=%273%20hours%27&QUANTITIES=%2719%27

|accessdate=2023-07-06}} (JPL#K223/25 Soln.date: 2023-Jun-08)

}}

129P/Shoemaker–Levy, also known as Shoemaker–Levy 3, is a periodic comet in the Solar System. It fits the definition of an Encke-type comet with (T_Jupiter > 3; a < a_Jupiter),{{cite web

|type=2011-10-30 last obs

|title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 129P/Shoemaker-Levy 3

|url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=129P

|publisher=Jet Propulsion Laboratory

|accessdate=2012-07-26}} and is a quasi-Hilda comet.{{cite journal | title=The quasi-Hilda subgroup of ecliptic comets - an update | last=Toth | first=I. | journal=Astronomy and Astrophysics | volume=448 | issue=3 | pages=1191–1196 | doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20053492 | bibcode=2006A&A...448.1191T |date=March 2006| doi-access=free }}

This comet should not be confused with Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 (D/1993 F2), which spectacularly crashed into Jupiter in 1994.

The nucleus of the comet is estimated to have a radius of 1.22 ± 0.1 km based on infrared imaging by the Spitzer Space Telescope.{{cite journal |last1=Fernández |first1=Y.R. |last2=Kelley |first2=M.S. |last3=Lamy |first3=P.L. |last4=Toth |first4=I. |last5=Groussin |first5=O. |last6=Lisse |first6=C.M. |last7=A’Hearn |first7=M.F. |last8=Bauer |first8=J.M. |last9=Campins |first9=H. |last10=Fitzsimmons |first10=A. |last11=Licandro |first11=J. |last12=Lowry |first12=S.C. |last13=Meech |first13=K.J. |last14=Pittichová |first14=J. |last15=Reach |first15=W.T. |last16=Snodgrass |first16=C. |last17=Weaver |first17=H.A. |title=Thermal properties, sizes, and size distribution of Jupiter-family cometary nuclei |journal=Icarus |date=September 2013 |volume=226 |issue=1 |pages=1138–1170 |doi=10.1016/j.icarus.2013.07.021|arxiv=1307.6191 }}