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