C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina)

DEPARTED

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 5 July 2014 Perihelion distance (q): 1.1 Aphelion distance (Q) : 120.1 Period (years): 471 Eccentricity (e): 0.98 Inclination (i): 145.3 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve This very unusual asteroid, originally classified as an Amor, was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey with the 0.68m Schmidt on 23 October 2013. The asteroid has a retrograde orbit with a period of over 400 years and perihelion at 1.1 au in July 2014. The Earth MOID is 0.11 au. The Tisserand parameter of the orbit with respect to Jupiter is -0.97. It will approach the Earth within 0.3 au in 2014 July. On 2014 May 7 Ayrtom Novichonok and T Prystavski noted cometary features in images taken with the 0.5m iTelescope at Siding Spring. An MPEC giving the cometary designation [MPEC 2014-K36] was finally issued on 23 May. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 18-May-14 15.29 0.02 13.4 0.5 29-May-14 15.11 0.01 12.6 0.5 08-Jun-14 14.91 0.06 13.4 0.4 14-Jun-14 13.52 0.06 11.8 0.5 19-Jun-14 14.38 0.01 12.4 0.4 02-Jul-14 13.84 0.01 11.6 0.5 26-Jul-14 14.71 0.02 13.4 0.3 03-Aug-14 15.31 0.03 14.0 0.2 06-Aug-14 15.39 0.06 14.1 0.2 13-Aug-14 15.75 0.04 14.9 0.3 21-Aug-14 16.00 0.04 15.3 0.2 15-Jan-15 18.58 0.01 18.1 0.2 23-Jan-15 18.16 0.22 15.7 0.2 26-Jan-15 18.33 0.16 18.2 0.2 31-Jan-15 18.33 0.35 16.4 0.2 03-Feb-15 18.16 0.21 15.4 0.2 10-Feb-15 18.37 0.16 18.2 0.2 26-Feb-15 18.15 0.14 17.9 0.2