C/2015 WZ (PANSTARRS)

DEPARTED

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 15 April 2016 Perihelion distance (q): 1.4 Aphelion distance (Q) : 385 Period (years): 2,685 Eccentricity (e): 0.99 Inclination (i): 134.1 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve PanSTARRS 1 discovered a 21st magnitude asteroid in images taken with the 1.8m Ritchey-Chretien on 17 November 2015. The object, originally classified as a Trans- Neptunian Object, was at perihelion at 1.4 au in April 2016 and has a retrograde orbit. The orbit has a Tisserand criterion with respect to Jupiter of -1.01. Cometary activity commenced as it approached the Sun and it was reclassified as a comet in MPEC 2016-H29 on 19 April 2016. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 17-May-16 15.42 0.02 12.5 0.7 29-May-16 16.12 0.01 13.2 0.2 07-Jun-16 16.59 0.02 13.6 0.2 26-Jun-16 17.35 0.09 14.5 0.2 07-Jul-16 17.95 0.15 14.9 0.2