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