Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 the Sun, unlike all other comets known at the time. Its orbit around Jupiter was very loosely bound, with a period of about 2 years and an apoapsis (the point in the orbit farthest from the planet) of . Its orbit around the planet was highly eccentric ("e" = 0.9986). Tracing back the comet's orbital motion revealed that it had been orbiting Jupiter for some time. It is likely that it was captured from a solar orbit in the early 1970s, although the capture may have occurred as early as the mid-1960s. Several other observers found images of the comet
4446 Carolyn The "Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link" assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 32.03 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.2. This minor planet was named by the discoverer after American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker (born 1929), a prolific discoverer of minor planets and comets, such as Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9. Many of her discoveries were co-discoveries with her husband Gene Shoemaker. The official naming citation was prepared by David Levy and Jean Mueller, and published by the Minor Planet Center on 27 June 1991 (). 4446 Carolyn 4446 Carolyn, provisional designation , is a