252P/LINEAR (0252P)

TRY AGAIN 2026

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 7 November 2026 Perihelion distance (q): 1.0 Aphelion distance (Q) : 5.1 Period (years): 5.3 Eccentricity (e): 0.67 Inclination (i): 10.4 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve Atlas F. Shelly, for the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project, reported, in connection with the discovery on 7 April 2000 of a fast-moving 18th mag object, that Lisa Brown-Manguso noticed that the object showed clear cometary activity. Subsequent observations confirmed that it was a periodic comet, with a perihelion distance of 1.003 AU and perihelion on 9 March 2000. The comet passed only 0.10 AU from Earth in late February and early March 2000, when it could have reached 14th mag, but was at high southern declination and is intrinsically very faint. The comet was moved into its present orbit in February 1987 when an encounter to within 0.15 AU of Jupiter made significant changes to the elements. It made a close approach to the Earth in 2016, passing 0.036 AU from us on 21 March, best seen from the Southern Hemisphere. The comet could potentially have an associated meteor shower. This would be maximum around 30 March and the meteors would appear to radiate from 5h 08m - 16. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 14-Dec-15 19.61 0.05 19.0 0.2 03-Feb-16 17.34 0.04 15.1 0.2 11-Feb-16 16.95 0.05 13.7 0.2 25-Feb-16 16.16 0.04 13.1 0.2 29-Mar-16 12.56 0.01 9.4 3.0 13-Apr-16 13.09 0.01 10.1 7.5 01-May-16 13.70 0.02 10.6 6.0 05-May-16 14.17 0.01 11.2 4.7 20-May-16 15.21 0.04 12.2 0.7 29-May-16 16.29 0.01 13.2 1.1 02-Jun-16 16.69 0.02 13.7 1.3 13-Jun-16 17.49 0.04 14.4 0.5