C/2021 A4 (NEOWISE)

DEPARTED

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 20 March 2021 Perihelion distance (q): 1.1 Aphelion distance (Q) : 87.5 Period (years): 295 Eccentricity (e): 0.97 Inclination (i): 111.6 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve An approximately 20th magnitude comet was discovered from the NEOWISE satellite on 3 January 2021. It was posted on the PCCP as N00htdm. The MPEC suggests that it was reported by NEOWISE as being cometary, however the CBET suggests that it was reported because of interesting motion and that ground-based observers confirmed the cometary nature. There were prediscovery observations from PanSTARRS on 3 January. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 08-Feb-21 13.8 1.5 14-Feb-21 14.95 0.03 13.4 1.3