407P/PanSTARRS-Fuls (0407P)
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Type: Periodic
Perihelion date: 1 February 2020
Perihelion distance (q): 2.1
Aphelion distance (Q) : 4.8
Period (years): 6.4
Eccentricity (e): 0.38
Inclination (i): 4.9
JPL orbit diagram
COBS lightcurve
407P/PanSTARRS-Fuls = 2013 J4 = 2019 Y2
Pan-STARRS discovered a 21st magnitude comet on 5 May 2013. It reached
perihelion at 2.3 au in July 2013 and was thought to have a period of around 16
years.
D Carson Fuls discovered a comet of 19th magnitude in Mt Lemmon Survey images
taken with the 1.5m reflector on 21 December 2019. It was placed on the PCCP as
C1N4PQ2 and confirmed by other observers including Michael Jaeger and Eric
Bryssinck.
Sam Deen has shown that the two comets are identical. The comet passed 0.34 au
from Jupiter in 2010 in an encounter that significantly changed the orbit.
Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude)
Date
10x10 mag
Error
VEmag
Coma '
05-Jan-20
18.05
0.15
17.4
0.3
22-Jan-20
17.09
0.03
15.9
0.5
01-Feb-20
17.56
0.10
16.1
0.5
18-Feb-20
17.86
0.04
16.3
0.4
21-Feb-20
17.97
0.05
17.0
0.6
04-Mar-20
17.97
0.14
17.1
0.5
18-Mar-20
17.63
0.03
16.4
0.5
28-Mar-20
17.33
0.03
15.9
0.6