213P/Van Ness (0213P)

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Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 11 November 2023 Perihelion distance (q): 2.0 Aphelion distance (Q) : 4.7 Period (years): 6.1 Eccentricity (e): 0.41 Inclination (i): 10.4 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve M E Van Ness noted a 17th magnitude cometary object on LONEOS images taken on 10 September 2005. It was in a short period orbit of 6.3 years and was at perihelion at 2.13 AU in February 2005. It brightened to visual range in October, but then faded, so this was clearly a temporary outburst. Comet 2005 R2 (P/Van Ness) was recovered by Gary Hug with his 0.56-m reflector at Sandlot Observatory on 31 January 2009 at 21st magnitude. It became brighter than expected in 2011 and a secondary condensation was observed by Giovanni Sostero, Nick Howes, Helen Blyth and Ernesto Guido in images taken with the Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North on 5 August, and subsequently seen in images by J. Gonzalez at the end of July and early August. Orbital calculations by Hirohisa Sato suggest that the split occurred in 2007 or 2008. Following an alert from a Japanese observatory, the team observed an additional component in September. The continued fragmentation may explain why the comet remained brighter than expected. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 22-Apr-17 17.75 0.16 16.5 0.2 21-May-17 16.44 0.02 15.3 0.4 28-May-17 16.23 0.01 14.9 0.4 21-Jun-17 15.27 0.01 14.0 0.6 22-Jun-17 15.23 0.01 13.9 0.5 29-Jun-17 14.81 0.01 13.5 1.2 16-Jul-17 14.87 0.03 13.6 0.5 10-Sep-17 16.41 0.07 14.2 0.4 11-Oct-17 16.86 0.02 14.5 0.4 20-Nov-17 17.61 0.03 14.2 0.4