C/2014 AA52 (Catalina)

DEPARTED

Type: Hyperbolic Perihelion date: 27 February 2015 Perihelion distance (q): 2.0 Aphelion distance (Q) : n/a Period (years): n/a Eccentricity (e): 1.00 Inclination (i): 105.2 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve A 20th magnitude asteroid was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on 11 January 2014. The object had a retrograde orbit with a period of around 50 years and perihelion at 1.8 au in March 2015. It was classed as a Centaur. On 26 February it was reclassified as a comet following the detection of cometary activity. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 27-Feb-14 18.30 0.12 16.7 0.2 05-Mar-14 18.30 0.06 18.3 0.2 20-Mar-14 18.27 0.13 18.2 0.2 23-Mar-14 18.28 0.10 18.2 0.2 29-Mar-14 18.22 0.08 17.9 0.2 14-Apr-14 18.16 0.27 18.1 0.2 03-May-14 17.99 0.11 17.9 0.2 20-May-14 18.14 0.08 18.1 0.2 30-Sep-14 16.33 0.10 13.6 0.2 08-Oct-14 17.19 0.23 16.7 0.2 27-Oct-14 16.83 0.12 16.5 0.2 03-Nov-14 17.19 0.08 16.9 0.2 10-Nov-14 17.08 0.03 16.7 0.2 26-Nov-14 16.71 0.07 15.7 0.2 16-Dec-14 16.35 0.09 15.6 0.3 23-Dec-14 16.05 0.13 15.2 0.3 14-Jan-15 15.84 0.06 15.2 0.3 22-Jan-15 16.50 0.04 15.7 0.3 30-Jan-15 16.65 0.13 15.5 0.2 10-Feb-15 16.73 0.02 16.0 0.3 15-Aug-15 17.75 0.05 16.5 0.2 21-Aug-15 17.70 0.06 16.2 0.2 03-Sep-15 18.26 0.04 16.5 0.2 16-Sep-15 18.40 0.07 15.4 0.2