C/2019 K6 (PANSTARRS)

DEPARTED

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 20 May 2020 Perihelion distance (q): 3.9 Aphelion distance (Q) : 3,542 Period (years): 74,649 Eccentricity (e): 1.00 Inclination (i): 132.4 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve PanSTARRS 2 discovered an asteroid in images taken with the 1.8m Ritchey- Chretien on 31 May 2019. The object, classified by JPL as a Trans-Neptunian Object, is at perihelion at 3.9 au in 2020 May and has a retrograde near parabolic orbit with aphelion at 800 au. It was placed on the PCCP as P20Oqj5. This was another object affected by the MPC glitch, receiving the designation of 2014 QA41 as a main-belt asteroid. Francois Kugel suggested activity in images from March 2020 and this was confirmed by other observers. The object was then redesignated as a comet. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 04-Mar-20 18.68 0.10 18.5 0.2 19-Mar-20 18.93 0.21 18.2 0.2 29-Mar-20 18.41 0.10 18.0 0.2 24-May-20 19.43 0.19 19.3 0.2 25-May-20 19.11 0.20 18.9 0.2