C/2020 M3 (ATLAS)
Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) photographed on 21 November 2020 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovery site | ATLAS–MLO (T08) |
| Discovery date | 27 June 2020 |
| Designations | |
| CK20M030 | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 26 November 2020 (JD 2459179.5) |
| Observation arc | 348 days |
| Number of observations | 2,344 |
| Aphelion | 52.367 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.268 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 26.817 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.95371 |
| Orbital period | 138.87 years |
| Inclination | 23.474° |
| 71.250° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 328.45° |
| Mean anomaly | 0.223° |
| Last perihelion | 25 October 2020 |
| Next perihelion | ~2159 |
| TJupiter | 1.460 |
| Earth MOID | 0.327 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.886 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 14.6 |
| 6.9 (2020 apparition) | |
Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) is a Halley-type comet that passed within 0.358 AU (53.6 million km) from Earth on 14 November 2020. It is one of many comets discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).