144P/Kushida (0144P)

TRY AGAIN 2030

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 25 January 2024 Perihelion distance (q): 1.4 Aphelion distance (Q) : 6.3 Period (years): 7.5 Eccentricity (e): 0.63 Inclination (i): 3.9 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve Yoshio Kushida discovered the first comet of 1994 (his second discovery within a month) on Technical Pan 6415 film exposed on 8 January with an 0.10-m, f4.0 patrol camera at Yatsugatake South Base Observatory, Japan. The comet was 13m, diameter 1-2' with a strong central condensation. With an aphelion just outside the orbit of Jupiter, it belongs to the Jupiter family of comets, and its most recent close approach to the planet before discovery was just over 1 AU in 1960. A similar approach followed in 1995 on the outbound leg of its discovery revolution. C. E. Delahodde, European Southern Observatory, reported the recovery by O. R. Hainaut and herself of comet P/1994 A1 (= 1994a = 1993 XX) with the 3.6-m reflector on 25 July 2000. The comet was recovered in 2008 with the Keck II telescope at Mauna Kea by K. Meech and J. Pittichova on 18 June. It was observed with the Spitzer Space Telescope in July. It brightened extremely rapidly, reaching binocular visibility in winter 2008/9. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 09-Jan-17 17.11 0.06 14.0 0.2 24-Jan-17 17.42 0.06 14.3 0.2 21-Feb-17 16.99 0.03 14.1 0.6 05-Mar-17 17.66 0.14 14.5 0.5 21-Mar-17 17.95 0.08 14.8 0.6 18-Apr-17 18.36 0.17 15.3 0.5 01-May-17 18.75 0.02 15.5 0.2 12-Sep-23 19.2 0.4 07-Oct-23 19.2 0.4 17-Oct-23 18.5 0.4 24-Oct-23 18.2 0.4 05-Nov-23 17.4 0.4 12-Nov-23 17.0 0.4 30-Dec-23 10.9 7.3 03-Jan-24 10.5 8.8 10-Jan-24 9.4 9.4 27-Jan-24 9.3 9.8 07-Feb-24 9.8 6.0 05-Mar-24 9.6 7.7 22-May-24 14.7 1.3