66P/du Toit (0066P)

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Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 19 May 2018 Perihelion distance (q): 1.3 Aphelion distance (Q) : 10.8 Period (years): 14.9 Eccentricity (e): 0.79 Inclination (i): 18.7 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve Comet 66P/du Toit has only been observed at alternate returns. It was discovered by Daniel du Toit at the Boyden Observatory in South Africa on 16 May 1944. The discovery return was a good one, with the comet approaching to within 0.5 AU of the Earth, and the comet reached 10th magnitude. It was not found at the 1959 return, nor was it initially found in 1974, however in January 1975 a further inspection of search plates taken ten months previously revealed a diffuse image of the comet. J. V. Scotti recovered the comet with the 1.8-m Spacewatch II telescope at mag 20.3- 20.7 on 10 March 2003. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 18-Feb-18 18.25 0.13 17.9 0.2 14-Jul-18 16.51 0.05 13.4 0.9 21-Aug-18 17.33 0.04 15.3 0.6 03-Sep-18 17.46 0.02 14.4 0.7 01-Oct-18 18.04 0.04 15.7 0.6 13-Oct-18 18.42 0.08 15.2 0.4 30-Oct-18 19.39 0.17 18.9 0.2