62P/Tsuchinshan (0062P)

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 22 December 2023 Perihelion distance (q): 1.2 Aphelion distance (Q) : 5.5 Period (years): 6.1 Eccentricity (e): 0.63 Inclination (i): 4.8 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve This was the first of two comets discovered at the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanking, China during early January of 1965. It was first found on a photograph obtained on 1 January 1965. The comet was then in Gemini and the total magnitude was given as 15. The announcement was delayed for several weeks, and the first observation outside of China did not occur until 9 February when Philip Veron (Palomar Observatory, California, USA) photographed the comet. G. Sitarski prepared a prediction for the comet's 1971 return which indicated a perihelion date of 18 September. On 20 December 1971 Elizabeth Roemer and L. M. Vaughn recovered the comet. The resulting precise position indicated Sitarski's prediction required a correction of -1.53 days. Roemer and Vaughn determined the comet's nuclear magnitude as 20.3. When last seen on 10 March 1972 the nucleus had faded to magnitude 21.4. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 16-Nov-17 15.10 0.03 12.0 2.5 15-Dec-17 14.86 0.03 11.7 5.9 25-Dec-17 15.41 0.02 12.3 3.8 20-Jan-18 15.91 0.06 12.7 1.9 14-Feb-18 16.99 0.03 14.0 0.9 21-Feb-18 17.27 0.03 14.1 0.9 11-Mar-18 17.64 0.06 14.3 0.7 20-Mar-18 17.46 0.03 14.3 0.8 06-Apr-18 18.01 0.04 15.7 0.5 19-Apr-18 18.31 0.04 15.1 0.4 02-May-18 18.73 0.07 17.1 0.2 16-Nov-23 9.5 9.6