285P/LINEAR (0285P)

TRY AGAIN 2031

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 12 January 2023 Perihelion distance (q): 1.7 Aphelion distance (Q) : 7.3 Period (years): 9.6 Eccentricity (e): 0.62 Inclination (i): 25.0 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve 285P/LINEAR = 2003 U2 = 2013 K2 F. Shelly, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reported the discovery of a comet with a diffuse coma and a very wide, fan-shaped tail in p.a. 85 deg on LINEAR images on 19 October 2003. Following posting on the NEO Confirmation Page, other CCD observers also commented on the cometary appearance. Hidetaka Sato recovered the comet on 8 May 2013, with perihelion 0.18 days earlier than predicted. The comet is one of those suspected to have undergone nuclear splitting according to the list of Marcos & Marcos [Dynamically correlated minor bodies in the outer solar system, MNRAS, 474, 838, 2018 February]. They link it to 2013 N5 (P/PanSTARRS). ZTF reported that the comet had outburst by some 4 magnitudes between 31 July and 3 August, with the outburst underway on 1 August according to other data. The comet was 2.3 au from the Sun, inbound towards perihelion in mid January 2023. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 15-Aug-22 15.91 0.03 14.9 0.8 23-Aug-22 14.7 0.8 19-Oct-22 17.02 0.08 17.2 0.4 20-Oct-22 17.20 0.17 17.3 0.4 14-Nov-22 17.3 0.4