P/2023 S1 (PANSTARRS)

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 24 February 2025 Perihelion distance (q): 2.6 Aphelion distance (Q) : 5.1 Period (years): 7.5 Eccentricity (e): 0.32 Inclination (i): 9.2 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve Atlas PanSTARRS 2 discovered a 20th magnitude comet in images taken with the 1.8 m Ritchey-Chretien on 20 September 2023. There were pre-discovery images from earlier in the month. The preliminary orbit suggests that the comet passed only 0.0017au from Jupiter around 8 June 2021. Prior to this encounter the comet was in a more distant orbit with perihelion at 5.0 au and a period of 26 years. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 17-Oct-23 20.0 0.4 24-Oct-23 18.9 0.4 13-Nov-23 18.8 0.4 09-Dec-23 19.4 0.4 17-Dec-23 19.2 0.4 29-Dec-23 18.7 0.4 09-Jan-24 18.8 0.4 27-Jan-24 19.0 0.4 03-Feb-24 18.8 0.4 05-Nov-24 17.5 0.4 13-Nov-24 17.5 0.4 29-Nov-24 17.4 0.4 08-Dec-24 17.3 0.4 25-Dec-24 17.1 0.4 04-Jan-25 16.1 0.8 23-Jan-25 15.4 0.9 19-Feb-25 14.8 1.1 05-Mar-25 15.8 0.6 20-Mar-25 16.2 0.6 01-Apr-25 16.4 0.6 16-Apr-25 17.5 0.4 23-Apr-25 17.4 0.4