460P/PanSTARRS
Radar images of 460P/PanSTARRS from its 2016 Earth flyby | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Pan-STARRS |
| Discovery site | Haleakalā Observatory |
| Discovery date | 22 January 2016 |
| Designations | |
| P/2016 BA14, P/2020 U6 | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 12 April 2016 (JD 2457490.5) |
| Observation arc | 5.10 years (1,862 days) |
| Earliest precovery date | 1 December 2015 |
| Number of observations | 160 |
| Aphelion | 5.036 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.009 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 3.022 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.6663 |
| Orbital period | 5.25 years |
| Inclination | 18.919° |
| 180.534° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 351.90° |
| Mean anomaly | 36.425° |
| Last perihelion | 17 June 2021 |
| Next perihelion | 21 September 2026 |
| TJupiter | 2.797 |
| Earth MOID | 0.016 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.094 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean radius | 0.55–0.8 km (0.34–0.50 mi) |
| 36.6 hours | |
| 0.01–0.03 | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 20.9 |
460P/PanSTARRS (also known with the provisional designation P/2016 BA14) is a near-Earth object and a Jupiter-family comet with an orbital period of 5.25 years. In March 2016, it passed at distance of 2.2 million mi (3.5 million km; 9.2 LD) from Earth. It was the closest approach by a comet since 1770 and 3rd closest recorded comet to Earth. The close flyby enabled the size of the nucleus to be calculated at about 1 km (0.62 mi) in diameter, which was much bigger than expected. The comet is very dark, reflecting about 2-3 percent of the visible light, about the same as a charcoal briquette. It has a very similar orbit as numbered comet 252P/LINEAR, and may be related to it (e.g. split off of).