Type Periodic Perihelion Date 27 August 2018 Perihelion Distance (q) 1.5 Aphelion Distance (Q) 4.7 Period (Years)   5.5 Eccentricity (e)   0.51 Inclination (i)   10.0 Click for NASA orbit diagram

This comet was discovered in Aquarius by Tom Gehrels (Steward Observatory, Arizona, USA) on CCD images obtained with the 0.91-m Spacewatch telescope on 8 September 1991. Then situated 1.70 AU from Earth, the comet had been closest to Earth in August (1.64 AU). Further images were obtained on 9 September, with the nuclear magnitude being determined as 20.9. Scotti described the condensation as essentially stellar, while a tail extended more than 5 arc minutes towards PA 258°. The comet was recovered by T. Seki (Geisei, Japan) on 11 March 1996 and was last detected on 2 September by A. Nakamura (Kuma Kogen Astronomical Observatory, Japan). Although the comet was not expected to exceed magnitude 16 during this apparition, it experienced an outburst during the second half of July 1996 during which time the magnitude nearly reached 14.5. Date 10x10 mag Error Kphot mag Coma ' 22-Mar 13 16.68 0.07 16.1 0.2 25-Apr 13 17.23 0.10 16.7 0.3 14-Mar-18 18.99 0.21 18.7 0.2 16-May-18 18.59 0.03 18.3 0.2