Misplaced Pages

C/2012 L2 (LINEAR)

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from C/2012 L2) Non-periodic comet For other comets of the same name, see List of comets discovered by the LINEAR project.
C/2012 L2 (LINEAR)
The comet on 18 February 2013 by the Palomar Transient Factory
Discovery
Discovered byLINEAR
Discovery siteSocorro, New Mexico
Discovery date1 June 2012
Designations
Alternative designationsCK12L020
Orbital characteristics
Observation arc338 days
Number of
observations		2,119
Aphelion~1,130 AU
Perihelion1.509 AU
Semi-major axis565.74 AU
Eccentricity0.99733
Orbital period~13,460 years
Inclination70.981°
Longitude of
ascending node		270.302°
Argument of
periapsis		205.786°
Last perihelion9 May 2013
TJupiter0.505
Earth MOID0.584 AU
Jupiter MOID3.248 AU
Physical characteristics
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		11.3
Apparent magnitude10.0
(2013 apparition

C/2012 L2 (LINEAR) is a non-periodic comet that was discovered on 1 June 2012 by LINEAR. Preliminary calculations of its orbit by Maik Meyer noted a striking similarity with that of C/1785 A1 (Messier–Mechain), however it is purely a coincidence rather than the return of the latter comet. It passed perihelion in May 2013.

Discovery and observations

The comet was discovered as a 19.4-magnitude object from photographs taken by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research survey on the morning of 1 June 2012. Five days after discovery, Maik Meyer noted that the preliminary orbit of this comet was initially similar to that of C/1785 A1, however he later concluded that these comets were unrelated from one another. Its aphelion distance suggested it may have been a dynamically new object that originated from the inner regions of the Oort cloud, therefore imaging polarimetry of the comet was conducted to further study the composition of these objects.

References

  1. ^ G. V. Williams (5 June 2012). "MPEC 2012-L13: Comet C/2012 L2 (LINEAR)". www.minorplanetcenter.net. Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  2. "C/2012 L2 (LINEAR) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  3. ^ M. Meyer (6 June 2012). "Another one ;) C/1785 A1 and C/2012 L2". Groups.io. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  4. J. Shanklin. "BAA Comet Section: Comets of 2012". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  5. S. Yoshida (15 June 2014). "C/2012 L2 (LINEAR)". www.aerith.net. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  6. P. Deb Roy; H. S. Das; B. J. Medhi (2015). "Imaging polarimetry of Comet C/2012 L2 (LINEAR)". Icarus. 245: 241–246. arXiv:1410.1660. Bibcode:2015Icar..245..241D. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.07.002. ISSN 0019-1035.

External links

Comets
Features Comet C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake)
Types
Related
Exploration
Latest
Culture and
speculation
Lists of comets (more)
Periodic
comets
Until 1985
(all)
After 1985
(notable)
Comet-like
asteroids
Lost
Recovered
Destroyed
Not found
Visited by
spacecraft
Near-Parabolic
comets
(notable)
Until 1990
After 1990
After 1910
(by name)


Stub icon

This comet-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: