252P/LINEAR
Sequence of images shows Comet 252P/LINEAR near Earth taken by Hubble. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovery site | LINEAR |
| Discovery date | 7 April 2000 |
| Designations | |
| P/2000 G1, P/2011 L5 | |
| PK11L050 | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 5 July 2021 (JD 2459400.5) |
| Observation arc | 21.39 years |
| Number of observations | 1,889 |
| Aphelion | 5.099 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.000 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 3.049 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.67197 |
| Orbital period | 5.327 years |
| Inclination | 10.409° |
| 190.95° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 343.30° |
| Mean anomaly | 358.83° |
| Last perihelion | 11 July 2021 |
| Next perihelion | 7 November 2026 |
| TJupiter | 2.821 |
| Earth MOID | 0.012 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.201 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean radius | 0.3±0.03 km |
| 7.35±0.05 hours | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 16.4 |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 22.7±0.9 |
Comet 252P/LINEAR is a Jupiter-family comet and near-Earth object discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey on 7 April 2000.
At some point, 252P/LINEAR separated from a second object designated 460P/PanSTARRS, that was discovered in January 2016. The nucleus of 460P/PanSTARRS is 1 km (0.62 mi) wide, which is larger than the nucleus of 252P, which is estimated to be 600 m (2,000 ft) across, but it is less active. 252P/LINEAR approached as close as 0.0356 AU (5.33 million km) to Earth on 21 March 2016.