460P/PANSTARRS (0460P)

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 21 September 2026 Perihelion distance (q): 1.0 Aphelion distance (Q) : 5.0 Period (years): 5.3 Eccentricity (e): 0.66 Inclination (i): 18.9 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve Atlas 460P/PanSTARRS = 2016 BA14 = 2020 U6 A 19th magnitude asteroid discovered in PanSTARRS 1 images taken with the 1.8m Ritchey-Chretien on 22 January 2016 was subsequently shown to have a faint tail. Pre-discovery PanSTARRS images were then found from December 2015. Denis Denisenko suggests that the orbit is very similar to that of 252P/LINEAR. The comet was at perihelion at 1.0 au in 2016 March and passed 0.024 au from the Earth on 22 March. This is nearly optimum for a close approach as the MOID is 0.017 au; the Jupiter MOID is 0.094 au. It will make another close approach to the Earth in 2048, but there are no very close approaches to Jupiter over the century centred on the present. Although intrinsically very faint, the comet reached 13th magnitude at closest approach, when it was moving rapidly across northern skies. In 2023 Richard Weryk reported the recovery of 2016 BA14 in images taken between October 2020 and January 2021 from Pan-STARRS 1. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 28-Feb-16 18.34 0.25 17.9 0.2 14-Mar-16 16.18 0.02 15.8 0.2 29-Mar-16 15.36 0.03 15.3 0.2 01-Apr-16 16.05 0.07 15.2 0.2 10-Apr-16 17.27 0.18 17.2 0.2 13-Apr-16 17.74 0.02 15.6 0.2 17-Apr-16 17.84 0.08 17.8 0.2 01-May-16 18.99 0.07 17.9 0.2