C/2015 VL62 (Lemmon-Yeung-

PANSTARRS)

DEPARTED

Type: Hyperbolic Perihelion date: 28 August 2017 Perihelion distance (q): 2.7 Aphelion distance (Q) : n/a Period (years): n/a Eccentricity (e): 1.00 Inclination (i): 165.6 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve A 20th magnitude comet was discovered in PanSTARRS 1 images taken with the 1.8m Ritchey-Chretien on 23 January 2016. After posting on the PCCP it was linked first to asteroid 2015 YY6 discovered in December by Bill Yeung, then to asteroid 2015 VL62 discovered in early November 2015 from Mount Lemmon. The comet is in a retrograde hyperbolic orbit. It will approach Jupiter to 0.9 au in November 2018 on its way out of the solar system. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 06-Sep-16 16.93 0.01 16.8 0.2 14-Sep-16 16.80 0.02 16.4 0.2 25-Sep-16 16.53 0.07 14.8 0.2 02-Oct-16 16.41 0.02 16.1 0.3 25-Nov-16 16.21 0.03 15.7 0.3 19-Dec-16 16.39 0.04 15.8 0.3 27-Dec-16 16.56 0.02 16.1 0.3 23-Jan-17 16.52 0.03 15.8 0.3 03-Jun-17 15.68 0.09 13.1 0.4 03-Jul-17 15.52 0.01 14.0 1.0 19-Jul-17 15.46 0.01 13.8 1.0 27-Jul-17 15.29 0.01 13.7 1.2 15-Aug-17 15.12 0.01 12.5 1.1 21-Aug-17 15.07 0.04 13.0 1.0 28-Aug-17 15.33 0.02 13.5 0.8 10-Sep-17 15.57 0.02 18-Sep-17 15.94 0.03 15.0 0.6 08-Oct-17 16.53 0.09 15.9 0.4