Ikeya

Orbit and dynamics

The path is an ellipse reaching 0.822 AU from the Sun at perihelion and 111.0 AU at aphelion, a radial span of 110.2 AU.

Applying Kepler's third law to a = 55.9 AU gives an orbital period of 418 yr, or about 152,654 days.

The high eccentricity (0.985) produces a strongly elongated orbit, so the object spends most of its time far from the Sun.

A steep inclination of 171.9° carries it well above and below the ecliptic plane.

By the vis-viva equation its orbital speed rises to 46.3 km/s at perihelion and falls to 0.3 km/s at aphelion.

Because q < 1 AU and Q > 1 AU, this orbit geometrically intersects the region of Earth's orbit.

Its Tisserand parameter with respect to Jupiter is T_J = -1.02, a standard discriminator between asteroidal and cometary dynamics.

Size and surface

Neither a measured diameter nor a reliable absolute magnitude is available for Ikeya, so its physical size remains unconstrained.

Observation record and orbit quality

The current orbit solution is based on 36 observations and has a weighted RMS residual of 0.4766 arcseconds.

Condition code U = 6 indicates a moderately constrained orbit; predictions decades ahead still carry noticeable uncertainty.