93P/Lovas (0093P)

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 2 May 2026 Perihelion distance (q): 1.7 Aphelion distance (Q) : 7.1 Period (years): 9.2 Eccentricity (e): 0.61 Inclination (i): 12.2 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve Atlas Miklos Lovas (Konkoly Observatory, Hungary) found an image of this comet on a photographic plate exposed on 1980 December 5. He described it as diffuse, with a condensation. The magnitude was estimated as 17. An independent discovery was made by C. Kowal (Palomar Observatory, California, USA), who detected the comet on a photograph exposed on December 14. He confirmed the find on December 15. Kowal was using the 1.2-m Schmidt telescope and the comet's magnitude was again given as 17. The comet was recovered on 1989 July 7 by Seki. He found it with a 0.60-m reflector and estimated the magnitude as 17.5. The comet slowly brightened and by November and December it was brighter than magnitude 13. The comet was recovered again on 1998 June 17 at Whipple Observatory (Mt. Hopkins). Observations there and at Steward Observatory (Kitt Peak, Arizona, USA) indicated the magnitude was between 17.5 and 18. The comet was widely observed by both professional and amateur astronomers as it rose to about 13th magnitude at the end of 1998 and early in 1999. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 16-Jul-16 18.58 0.05 18.3 0.2 27-Aug-16 16.80 0.03 15.7 0.3 03-Sep-16 16.78 0.01 16.4 0.3 10-Sep-16 16.74 0.02 15.9 0.4 24-Sep-16 16.72 0.02 15.6 0.4 02-Oct-16 16.72 0.09 16.3 0.2 29-Oct-16 16.68 0.01 15.7 0.3 24-Nov-16 16.58 0.09 15.1 0.4 27-Dec-16 16.18 0.09 13.2 0.4 23-Jan-17 16.01 0.03 14.1 0.5 17-Apr-17 16.29 0.03 13.6 0.4