136P/Mueller

For other comets of the same name, see Comet Mueller.

136P/Mueller

Discovery
Discovered by	Jean Mueller
Discovery site	Palomar Observatory
Discovery date	24 September 1990
Designations
MPC designation	P/1990 S1 P/1998 K4
Alternative designations	1990 XIII, 1990l Mueller 3
Orbital characteristics
Epoch	5 May 2025 (JD 2460800.5)
Observation arc	34.27 years
Earliest precovery date	17 September 1990
Number of observations	712
Aphelion	5.415 AU
Perihelion	2.963 AU
Semi-major axis	4.189 AU
Eccentricity	0.29313
Orbital period	8.562 years
Inclination	9.427°
Longitude of ascending node	137.42°
Argument of periapsis	225.31°
Mean anomaly	13.998°
Last perihelion	3 January 2025
TJupiter	2.934
Earth MOID	1.986 AU
Jupiter MOID	0.264 AU
Physical characteristics
Mean radius	1.15 km (0.71 mi)
Geometric albedo	0.04 (assumed)
Comet total magnitude (M1)	7.4
Comet nuclear magnitude (M2)	14.3

136P/Mueller, also known as Mueller 3, is a periodic comet in the Solar System.

Observational history

Jean Mueller discovered the comet on exposed photographic plates taken by the Palomar Observatory on the night of 24 September 1990. At the time, it was a diffuse 18th-magnitude object in the constellation Cetus. Within a couple of days after discovery, Harold Holt found precovery images taken as early as 17 September. Orbital calculations by Edward L. G. Bowell and Daniel W. E. Green later indicated that Mueller's new find is a periodic comet.

James V. Scotti later successfully recovered the comet in 24 May 1998.

Physical characteristics

Assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04, the comet's nucleus is estimated to have an effective radius of 1.2 ± 0.2 km (0.75 ± 0.12 mi).

External links

• 136P/Mueller at the JPL Small-Body Database
• 136P/Mueller 3 at Seiichi Yoshida's website
• 136P/Mueller 3 at Gary W. Kronk's Cometography