astro.wikisort.org - Comet

C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS) was an Oort cloud comet, discovered on 26 July 2021 by the Pan-STARRS sky survey. It came to perihelion on 21 April 2022 at 0.287 AU (42.9 million km). from the Sun.

C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS)

Discovery
Discovered by	Pan-STARRS
Discovery date	26 July 2021
Orbital characteristics A
Epoch	2021-Aug-21
Observation arc	53 days
Number of observations	279
Orbit type	Oort cloud[1]
Perihelion	0.287 AU[2]
Eccentricity	1.00005 (epoch 1950)[1] 1.002 (epoch 2021)[2] 1.0001 (epoch 2100)[1]
Inclination	56.75°
Node	189.03°
Argument of periapsis	299.97°
TJupiter	0.446
Earth MOID	0.062 AU[2]
Jupiter MOID	2.16 AU
Comet total magnitude (M1)	10.6
Last perihelion	21 April 2022

The comet was expected to reach apparent magnitude 5 by late April 2022, while being only 15 degrees from the Sun.[3][4] While near perihelion the comet was dimmer than expectations. It was faintly visible in STEREO/SECCHI COR2-A on 27 April 2022.[5] Observations by Lowell Discovery Telescope on April 29 in the twilight detected a diffuse glow with a magnitude of 9 where the comet was expected to be, indicating that the comet nucleus disintergrated during perihelion.[6] C/2021 O3 made its closest approach to Earth on 8 May 2022 at a distance of 0.60 AU (90 million km).[7] As a dynamically new comet from the Oort cloud there was a high risk of disintegration.[8]

Orbit

With a short observation arc of 7 days, the Minor Planet Center used an assumed eccentricity of 1.0 for the orbit solution.[9] Due to statistics of small numbers, with a short 10 day arc JPL had an eccentricity of 0.99595±0.00444 which could be as high as 1.00039 or as low as 0.99151.[10] With an observation arc of 53 days, JPL Horizons shows both an inbound and outbound eccentricity greater than 1.[1]

C/2021 O3 probably took millions of years to arrive from the outer Oort cloud and, had it survived, may have been fated to be ejected from the Solar System.[1]

References

External links

• C/2021 O3 at the JPL Small-Body Database
  • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters

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