279P/La Sagra (0279P)

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Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 19 April 2023 Perihelion distance (q): 2.2 Aphelion distance (Q) : 5.0 Period (years): 6.8 Eccentricity (e): 0.4 Inclination (i): 5.1 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve An apparently asteroidal object of 18th magnitude discovered on CCD images taken remotely in the course of the "La Sagra Sky Survey" (LSSS), with a 0.45-m f/2.8 reflector located at Sagra mountain in southeastern Spain, was found to show cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere. The observation on 19 August 2009 was assigned "discovery" status after the Minor Planet Center linked "one-night" LSSS observations made on 19 August with others made on 25 August (though earlier LSSS observations were made on August 16), and later LSSS and Catalina observations linked by the MPC allowed the issuance a comet-like orbit on 8 September, in the daily aggregate of new orbits. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 06-Sep-16 19.98 0.24 19.2 0.2 02-Nov-16 19.28 0.07 18.2 0.2 26-Nov-16 20.08 0.02 19.7 0.2