C/1864 R1 (Donati)

For the other comets discovered by Giovanni Battista Donati, see Comet Donati (disambiguation).

Comet Donati, formally designated as C/1864 R1, is a parabolic comet discovered in 1864. It was the last of five comets discovered by Italian astronomer, Giovanni Battista Donati.^[3] This comet might be the potential parent body of the Gamma Normids meteor shower (alongside C/1893 U1).^{[4][scientific citation needed]}

C/1864 R1 (Donati)

Discovery
Discovered by	Giovanni B. Donati
Discovery site	Florence, Italy
Discovery date	10 September 1864
Designations
Alternative designations	1864 I[1]
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch	28 July 1864 (JD 2402080.8118)
Observation arc	29 days
Number of observations	20
Perihelion	0.6261 AU
Eccentricity	~1.000
Inclination	134.982°
Longitude of ascending node	176.881°
Argument of periapsis	346.095°
Last perihelion	28 July 1864
Comet total magnitude (M1)	7.0

Discovery and observations

The comet was already on its outbound flight when it was first spotted by Giovanni Battista Donati on the night of 10 September 1864, where it was initially located within the constellation Leo Minor.^[a] As a result, further observations of the comet became increasingly difficult as it slowly faded away, leading to astronomers being unable to obtain its precise orbital elements.^[5] The last known observation of the comet was recorded on 20 October 1864.^[5]