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C/2019 U6 (Lemmon)

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For other comets discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey, see Comet Lemmon.
C/2019 U6 (Lemmon)
C/2019 U6 observed with an amateur telescope in June 2020
Orbital characteristics
Observation arc1.54 yr
Aphelion960 AU (inbound)
604 AU (outbound)
Perihelion0.91427 AU
Last perihelion18 June 2020
Next perihelion~10,500 yr (inbound)[1]
~5,200 yr (outbound)
Earth MOID0.0288 AU (4.31 million km; 11.2 LD)

C/2019 U6 (Lemmon), or Comet Lemmon is a long period comet with a near-parabolic orbit discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey on October 31, 2019.[2] It made its closest approach to the Sun on June 18, 2020. In June 2020 it was visible near the naked eye limit at an apparent magnitude of 6.0.[3] It is the 3rd brightest naked eye comet of 2020 after C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) and C/2020 F8 (SWAN). It remained visible near the naked eye limit in June.[4]

This perihelion passage will decrease the comet's orbital period from about 10500 years to about 5200 years.[1]

Even though C/2019 U6 has an Earth-MOID of 0.0288 AU (4.31 million km; 11.2 LD),[2] the closest approach to Earth was on June 29, 2020 at a distance of 0.82 AU (123 million km; 320 LD).

References

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  1. ^ a b JPL Horizons barycentric solution for epoch 1950 (before entering planetary region)
    Goto JPL Horizons
    Ephemeris Type: Orbital Elements
    Center: @0 (Solar System Barycenter)
    Time Span: 1950-01-01 to 2050-01-01 and Step Size: 100 years
    1950-Jan-01 is "PR= 3.84E+06 / 365.25 days" = 10513 years
  2. ^ a b "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: C/2019 U6 (Lemmon)". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  3. ^ Ghosh, Trinankur. "Comet Observation database (COBS)". Retrieved 10 May 2020. "C/2019 U6 plot" Archived 2020-07-18 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Seiichi Yoshida. "C/2019 U6 ( Lemmon )". Retrieved 10 May 2020.


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