204P/LINEAR-NEAT (0204P)

TRY AGAIN 2029

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 15 November 2022 Perihelion distance (q): 1.8 Aphelion distance (Q) : 5.4 Period (years): 6.8 Eccentricity (e): 0.49 Inclination (i): 6.6 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve This comet was discovered by LINEAR on images obtained on 13 and 17 October 2001. It was then described as asteroidal in appearance with a magnitude ranging from 19.0 to 19.8. It was given an asteroid designation of 2001 TU80. An independent discovery was made by NEAT at Haleakala on 19 October. The object was still stellar in appearance and magnitude estimates three NEAT images revealed a range of 19.3 to 20.4. A routine minor planet orbit was calculated and no further observations were made. The NEAT program based at Palomar Observatory discovered a comet with a coma 3 arcsec across on 16 November. The comet was almost immediately identified to the asteroidal object found by LINEAR and NEAT during October. An observation by P. Kusnirak (Ondrejov Observatory) on 17 November, using a 0.65-m reflector, revealed the comet was moderately condensed, with a coma 0.3 arcmin across. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 26-Oct-15 18.74 0.06 17.1 0.2 10-Nov-15 18.09 0.10 16.4 0.2 17-Nov-15 18.24 0.12 16.1 0.2 10-Dec-15 17.72 0.02 15.3 0.2 20-Dec-15 17.58 0.03 15.9 0.2 05-Feb-16 17.22 0.02 15.1 0.2 04-Mar-16 18.10 0.08 15.6 0.2 29-Mar-16 18.81 0.08 18.2 0.2 02-May-16 19.73 0.44 19.0 0.2 03-Oct-22 18.9 0.4 22-Oct-22 18.7 0.4 30-Oct-22 18.4 0.4 25-Nov-22 17.3 0.4 28-Jan-23 16.8 0.6 20-Feb-23 16.8 0.6 28-Feb-23 17.9 0.4 12-Mar-23 18.1 0.4 23-Mar-23 18.5 0.4 09-Apr-23 18.7 0.4