230P/LINEAR (0230P)
TRY AGAIN 2027
Type: Periodic
Perihelion date: 19 March 2022
Perihelion distance (q): 1.6
Aphelion distance (Q) : 5.3
Period (years): 6.4
Eccentricity (e): 0.55
Inclination (i): 15.5
JPL orbit diagram
COBS lightcurve
An apparently asteroidal object of 18th magnitude discovered by LINEAR with the
1.0-m reflector on 27 October 2009 was found to show a cometary appearance by
other astrometrists. Following improved astrometry S. Nakano identified observations
of the comet among single-night data from NEAT at the two preceding apparitions in
1997 and 2002, with it being assigned the identifications 1997 A2 and 2002 Q15. Rob
Matson independently located the images corresponding to these observations,
together with some additional ones and provided measurements.
The comet's approach to a distance of 0.88 AU from Jupiter in September 2007
means that the orbital period, currently 6.27 years, was previously 6.48-6.49 years,
with the comet's previous two perihelion passages occurring on 4 September 1996
and 3 March 2003.
Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude)
Date
10x10 mag
Error
VEmag
Coma '
17-Aug-15
17.97
0.08
15.1
0.2
25-Aug-15
17.90
0.03
14.4
0.2
08-Sep-15
17.25
0.02
17.1
0.2
16-Sep-15
17.11
0.02
16.6
0.2
23-Sep-15
16.79
0.02
16.8
0.2
06-Oct-15
16.33
0.01
15.6
0.2
13-Oct-15
16.00
0.01
15.6
0.2
20-Oct-15
15.79
0.01
15.3
0.2
04-Nov-15
15.21
0.01
14.7
0.2
13-Nov-15
14.82
0.01
14.0
0.2
20-Nov-15
14.66
0.02
13.6
0.3
03-Dec-15
14.23
0.01
13.5
0.3
09-Dec-15
14.11
0.04
13.4
0.3
16-Dec-15
14.21
0.01
13.3
0.4
25-Feb-16
17.09
0.05
15.9
0.2
16-Jun-21
19.5
0.4
13-Aug-21
17.6
0.4
03-Sep-21
18.7
0.4
06-Sep-21
18.4
0.4