218P/LINEAR (0218P)

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 3 March 2026 Perihelion distance (q): 1.1 Aphelion distance (Q) : 5.0 Period (years): 5.4 Eccentricity (e): 0.63 Inclination (i): 2.7 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve Atlas M. Bezpalko reported the discovery of a comet on five images obtained with the 1.0- m reflector of the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program (New Mexico, USA) on 29 April 2003. The magnitude was between 18.8 and 19.0, while a tail extended toward PA 270 degrees. The first confirmation was obtained by J. E. McGaha (Grasslands Observatory, Arizona, USA) on 30 April. His 62-cm reflector revealed a nuclear magnitude of 18.1-18.2. Following the comet's recovery in 2009, a new orbit for the 2003 apparition revealed a perihelion date of 14 May and a period of 6.10 years. Several observations were made shortly after the comet's recovery. G. J. Garradd (Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia) noted the comet appeared slightly diffuse on 30 April. McGaha said his 30- cm reflector revealed a magnitude of 17.7-17.9 and a faint coma measuring 5" by 10" which was "aligned north-south, with uniform brightness and no apparent nuclear condensation or core" on 2 May. J. G. Ries (McDonald Observatory, Texas, USA) photographed the comet using the 76-cm reflector on 2 May. He gave the magnitude as 17.7-18.0 and noted a tail extending 20 arc seconds toward the region slightly south of west. The comet was last detected on 2003 August. In 2009 the comet was recovered on a single image obtained by the LINEAR program on 31 March. An independent recovery was obtained by Giovanni Sostero, Enrico Prosperi, Ernesto Guido, and Paul Camilleri (Remanzacco Observatory, Italy) using a remote-controlled telescope at Grove Creek Observatory (Trunkey, New South Wales, Australia) on 15 April 2009. They described the comet as a "diffuse coma about 15 arcsec in diameter, with a central condensation" of magnitude of 19.2. The comet was 8 arc minutes southeast of the predicted position. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 17-Feb-15 17.07 0.10 16.0 0.2 24-Feb-15 16.81 0.03 16.4 0.2 05-Mar-15 16.60 0.15 15.8 0.2 14-Mar-15 16.40 0.06 15.7 0.2 19-Apr-15 15.78 0.08 12.9 0.3 03-May-15 15.84 0.09 13.2 0.2 12-May-15 15.03 0.04 13.5 0.3 22-May-15 15.70 0.05 13.9 0.2 10-Jun-15 16.11 0.03 14.0 0.2 19-Jul-15 16.48 0.06 13.3 0.2 08-Aug-15 16.97 0.08 15.1 0.2 15-Aug-15 17.14 0.02 15.3 0.2 21-Aug-15 17.92 0.04 16.1 0.2 15-Sep-15 19.56 0.20 18.5 0.2