C/2018 F4 (PANSTARRS)
DEPARTED
Type: Hyperbolic
Perihelion date: 4 December 2019
Perihelion distance (q): 3.4
Aphelion distance (Q) : n/a
Period (years): n/a
Eccentricity (e): 1.00
Inclination (i): 78.1
JPL orbit diagram
COBS lightcurve
PanSTARRS discovered a 20th magnitude asteroid in images taken with the 1.8m
Ritchey-Chretien on 17 March 2018. It was placed on the PCCP as P10HIgx but no
cometary activity was confirmed at the time. The object was classified as a
Hyperbolic Asteroid by JPL.
Evidence for a cometary nature came in April, when follow up images showed a
coma and tail. The comet has a near perpendicular orbit. The Jupiter MOID is 0.60,
but it is not currently near the planet. It could be a candidate for a second interstellar
object as the latest orbit remains strongly hyperbolic.
Taras Prystavski reported on comets-ml that there were two components in images
taken on 12 September 2020. On 18 September Man-To Hui reported that images
suggested that the separation had occurred at least two months previously. Syuichi
Nakano suggests that the separation of the two components probably occurred
around the time of perihelion.
Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude)
Date
10x10 mag
Error
VEmag
Coma '
13-Sep-20
16.57
0.05
13.9
0.9
21-Sep-20
16.60
0.09
15.1
0.6
09-Oct-20
16.80
0.05
14.3
0.9
08-Nov-20
17.06
0.06
14.1
0.9
17-Nov-20
14.7
0.8
12-Dec-20
15.8
0.6
10-Jan-21
17.0
0.4
12-Jan-21
17.2
0.4
31-Jan-21
16.6
0.4
10-Aug-21
18.7
0.4
06-Sep-21
19.6
0.4
13-Sep-21
19.2
0.4