C/2020 S3 (Erasmus)

DEPARTED

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 12 December 2020 Perihelion distance (q): 0.4 Aphelion distance (Q) : 377 Period (years): 2,591 Eccentricity (e): 1.00 Inclination (i): 19.9 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve Nicolas Erasmus of the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) team discovered an 18th magnitude comet in images taken with the 0.5m Schmidt at Mauna Loa on 17 September 2020. It was posted on the PCCP as A10qDsR and subsequently confirmed as cometary by several astrometrists. Unfortunately it is not an optimum apparition, as the comet is in conjunction when brightest and will remain at a poor elongation after perihelion. It has a rather faint absolute magnitude and so may not survive perihelion. It entered the SOHO LASCO C3 field on 18 December, showing a strong central condensation and a tail. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 26-Oct-20 14.31 0.01 10.9 4.3 30-Oct-20 13.71 0.05 10.2 3.4 26-May-21 16.2 0.4 22-Jun-21 16.6 0.4 31-Aug-21 18.5 0.4