46P/Wirtanen

46P/Wirtanen is a short- period comet with an orbital period of 5.4 years around the sun. He was the original goal of the Rosetta spacecraft of ESA. He is one of the comets of the Jupiter family, all featuring an aphelion 5-6 AE. Its diameter is estimated to be about 1.2 km.

Discovery

46P/Wirtanen was discovered on a photographic recording on January 17, 1948 the American astronomer CA Wirtanen. The photo album was recorded on January 15, during a survey of stellar proper motions. However, it took more than a year until the object was identified as a short- period comet.