460P/PanSTARRS

Last updated
460P/PanSTARRS
PIA19298 hiresba14.jpg
Radar images of 460P/PanSTARRS from its 2016 Earth flyby [1]
Discovery
Discovered by Pan-STARRS
Discovery date22 January 2016
Orbital characteristics [2]
Epoch 12 April 2016 (JD 2457490.5)
Observation arc 0.86 yr (313 days)
Aphelion 5.036 AU
Perihelion 1.009 AU
Semi-major axis 3.022 AU
Eccentricity 0.6663
Orbital period 5.25 years (1,919 days)
Inclination 18.919°
180.534°
Argument of
periapsis 		351.896°
Mean anomaly 36.425°
Last perihelion17 June 2021
15 March 2016
Next perihelion21 September 2026
TJupiter 2.797
Earth MOID 0.01617 AU (2,419,000 km)
Jupiter MOID 0.09361 AU (14,004,000 km)
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 1 km [3]
36.6 h
0.03 [1]
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		21.3±0.5
Comet nuclear
magnitude (M2)		23.1±0.6

460P/PanSTARRS (also known with the provisional designation P/2016 BA14) is a near-Earth object and periodic comet of the Jupiter family, with an orbital period of 5.25 years. In March 2016 it passed at distance of 2.2 million miles (3.5 million km, or 9 lunar distances) from Earth. [1] It was the closest approach by a comet since 1770 and 3rd closest recorded comet to Earth. [4] 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. [1] [3] The comet is very dark, reflecting about 2-3 percent of the visible light, [1] 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). [5]

Contents

Observational history

The object when discovered on 22 January 2016 by a Pan-STARRS telescope, was thought to be an asteroid and went by the provisional minor planet designation 2016 BA14. [5] Astronomer Denis Denisenko noted the body's orbit was very similar to 252P/LINEAR, which led to a follow-up observation by the Lowell Discovery Telescope. [5] The body showed a tail, identifying it as a probable comet and then named P/2016 BA14. [5] It was also observed by the 4.3 meter aperture Discovery Channel Telescope in Arizona. [5]

The comet made a close flyby to Earth on 22 March 2016, at distance of 2.2 million miles (3.5 million km, or 9 lunar distances) from Earth, [1] which was the closest approach by a comet since 1770 and 3rd closest recorded comet to Earth. [4] That close flyby was an opportunity to study comets more closely. [6] During the closest approach to Earth on 21 and 22 March 2016, the telescopes of Slooh offered views of P/2016 BA14 and 252P/LINEAR. [7] The comet was also observed by radar. [8]

The comet was recovered by R. Weryk in images obtained by the 1.8 m Ritchey–Chrétien telescope of Pan-STARRS on 17 October 2020, when it had an estimated apparent magnitude of 22.6, and was followed up to 5 January 2021. The comet during that apparition was given the provisional number P/2020 U6 (PanSTARRS). [9] [10]

Orbit

460P/PanSTARRS is Jupiter family comet, indicating its aphelion is close to the orbit of Jupiter. The comet has an orbital period on 5.25 years and its perihelion is at 1.0128 AU for the 2021, while it was at 1.009 AU in 2016. [9]

460P/PanSTARRS had the closest known approach of Earth by a comet since 1770, when Lexell's Comet is calculated to have passed within 1.4 million miles (2.2 million kilometers) of Earth, [5] and the third closest approach of a comet to Earth. [11] [12] Another close approach by a comet in modern times was Comet IRAS–Araki–Alcock (aka C/1983 H1) in 1983. [13]

After P/2016 BA14's flyby in 2016, it is calculated that is the closest it will be to Earth for at least the next 150 years. [6] The comet approaches to 0.67 AU from Jupiter on 30 January 2034, which will result in an orbital change of the comet, with the perihelion distance increasing to 1.107 AU and the orbital period increasing to 5.43 years. [9] The comet will approach Jupiter again on 6 July 2042, this time at a distance of 0.76 AU. The orbit of the comet will change again, with perihelion distance decreasing to 1.032 AU and the orbital period to 5.25 years. [9] The next close flyby to Earth will take place at a distance of 0.052 AU on 14 March 2048. [9]

The orbits of 460P/PanSTARRS and 252P/LINEAR show similarities, suggesting that 460P/PanSTARRS may have split off from 252P/LINEAR. [14] Comet 252P/LINEAR had its close approach on March 21, 2016, and coming within 3.3 million miles (5.2 million kilometers) made it the 5th closest approach by a comet. [4] [12]

Scientific results

The close flyby in 2016 was an opportunity to study comets more closely. [6] 460P/PanSTARRS was observed by the Goldstone Solar System Radar in California over three days, which revealed various properties including a rotation rate of 35–40 hours along one axis. The radar observations during the Earth flyby detected surface features as small as 8 meters, [8] marking the highest resolution radar image of a comet. [15] P/2016 BA14 was bigger than predicted when observed by astronomical radar; it was estimated to be perhaps 125 meters but was about 1 km in diameter. [3] [1] One reason it was hard to predict its size, is because it reflects less than 3% of the light, a very low albedo. [1] [15] There was no obvious sign of a coma. [15]

NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) also made observations of P/2016 BA14, [3] revealing that P/2016 BA14 was reflecting only 2-3 percent of visible light. [8] The observations of P/2016 BA14 with the NASA IRTF gave a diameter estimate of 600 – 1200 meters (0.4 mile and 0.75 mile), [16] similar to the diameter reported by the radar observations. [17] The comet was also observed in mid infrared by the Cooled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer in Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. The observations revealed that it is an inactive body covered by phyllosilicate and organic materials with a diameter of 800 meters. [18]

During the 2016 flyby, activity level was measured both for 460P/PanSTARRS and 252P/LINEAR. 252P/LINEAR, despite having a smaller nucleus with diameter about 600 m, was much more active than 460P/PanSTARRS, about three to four orders of magnitude more. [19] [20] Hyland et al. did not detect gas emission from 460P, [21] while Li et al. did detect CN emission on 17 April 2016 consistent with a production rate of (1.4±0.1)×1022 mol/s. [20]

Meteor shower

460P/PanSTARRS may produce meteor shower on 21 March 2023 between the hours of 00–04 UT. [22] The radiant would be located near the bright star Canopus at (R.A. = 6 h ; Dec. = –51°). Meteors would have a slow entry speed of 17 km/s.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4183 Cuno</span> Asteroid

4183 Cuno, provisional designation 1959 LM, is an eccentric, rare-type asteroid, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, and measures approximately 4 kilometers in diameter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan-STARRS</span> Multi-telescope astronomical survey

The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System located at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, US, consists of astronomical cameras, telescopes and a computing facility that is surveying the sky for moving or variable objects on a continual basis, and also producing accurate astrometry and photometry of already-detected objects. In January 2019 the second Pan-STARRS data release was announced. At 1.6 petabytes, it is the largest volume of astronomical data ever released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comet IRAS–Araki–Alcock</span> Comet

Comet IRAS–Araki–Alcock is a long-period comet that, in 1983, made the closest known approach to Earth of any comet in 200 years, at a distance of about 0.0312 AU. The comet was named after its discoverers – the Infrared Astronomical Satellite and two amateur astronomers, George Alcock of the United Kingdom and Genichi Araki of Japan. Both men were schoolteachers by profession, although Alcock was retired. Alcock had made his discovery simply by observing through the window of his home, using binoculars. During the closest approach, the comet appeared as a circular cloud about the size of the full moon, having no discernible tail, and shining at a naked eye magnitude of 3–4. It swept across the sky at an angular speed of about 30 degrees per day. On May 11 the comet was detected on radar by Arecibo Observatory and Goldstone Solar System Radar making it the first comet detected by two different radar systems. A second detection was made by Goldstone on 14 May.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potentially hazardous object</span> Hazardous near-Earth asteroid or comet

A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and which is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. They are conventionally defined as having a minimum orbit intersection distance with Earth of less than 0.05 astronomical units and an absolute magnitude of 22 or brighter, the latter of which roughly corresponds to a size larger than 140 meters. More than 99% of the known potentially hazardous objects are no impact threat over the next 100 years. As of September 2022, just 17 of the known potentially hazardous objects listed on the Sentry Risk Table could not be excluded as potential threats over the next hundred years. Over hundreds if not thousands of years though, the orbits of some "potentially hazardous" asteroids can evolve to live up to their namesake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS)</span> Non-periodic comet

C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS), also known as Comet PANSTARRS, is a non-periodic comet discovered in June 2011 that became visible to the naked eye when it was near perihelion in March 2013. It was discovered using the Pan-STARRS telescope located near the summit of Haleakalā, on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Comet C/2011 L4 probably took millions of years to come from the Oort cloud. After leaving the planetary region of the Solar System, the post-perihelion orbital period is estimated to be roughly 107000 years. Dust and gas production suggests the comet nucleus is roughly 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) in diameter, while based on the absolute nuclear magnitude and a geometric albedo of 0.04 the diameter of the nucleus is over 2.4 kilometers (1.5 mi). A method based on coma magnitude decay function estimated the effective radius at 2.317 ± 0.190 km.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">367943 Duende</span> Near-Earth object

367943 Duende (provisional designation 2012 DA14) is a micro-asteroid and a near-Earth object of the Aten and Atira group, approximately 30 meters (98 ft) in diameter. It was discovered by astronomers of the Astronomical Observatory of Mallorca at its robotic La Sagra Observatory in 2012, and named for the duende, a goblin-like creature from Iberian and Filipino mythology and folklore. Duende is likely an uncommon L-type asteroid and significantly elongated. For an asteroid of its size, it has a relatively long rotation period of 9.485 hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">311P/PanSTARRS</span> Comet discovered in 2013

311P/PanSTARRS also known as P/2013 P5 (PanSTARRS) is an active asteroid discovered by Bryce T. Bolin using the Pan-STARRS telescope on 27 August 2013. Observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed that it had six comet-like tails. The tails are suspected to be streams of material ejected by the asteroid as a result of a rubble pile asteroid spinning fast enough to remove material from it. This is similar to 331P/Gibbs, which was found to be a quickly-spinning rubble pile as well.

<span class="nowrap">2012 TC<sub>4</sub></span>

2012 TC4 is a tumbling micro-asteroid classified as a bright near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 10 meters (30 feet) in diameter. It was first observed by Pan-STARRS at Haleakala Observatory on the Hawaiian island of Maui, in the United States. As of 1 October 2017, it had a small Earth minimum orbital intersection distance of 0.000149 AU (22,300 km). On 12 October 2017, it passed Earth at 0.00033524 AU (50,151 km). The asteroid was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on 16 October 2017 and with a 5-year observation arc has a well-known orbit. For example, on the previously risk-listed date of 12 October 2022, it is now known that the asteroid will be more than 3 AU (450 million km) from Earth.

<span class="nowrap">C/2015 ER<sub>61</sub></span> (PanSTARRS) Comet, inner Oort cloud object

C/2015 ER61 (PanSTARRS) is a comet and inner Oort cloud object. When classified as a minor planet, it had the fourth-largest aphelion of any known minor planet in the Solar System, after 2005 VX3, 2012 DR30, and 2013 BL76. It additionally had the most eccentric orbit of any known minor planet, with its distance from the Sun varying by about 99.9% during the course of its orbit, followed by 2005 VX3 with an eccentricity of 0.9973. On 30 January 2016, it was classified as a comet when it was 5.7 AU from the Sun. It comes close to Jupiter, and a close approach in the past threw it on the distant orbit it is on now.

<span class="nowrap">2015 TB<sub>145</sub></span> Potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroid

2015 TB145 is a sub-kilometer asteroid, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately 650 meters (2,000 feet) in diameter. It safely passed 1.27 lunar distances from Earth on 31 October 2015 at 17:01 UTC, and passed by Earth again in November 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flyby (spaceflight)</span> Flight event at some distance from the object

A flyby is a spaceflight operation in which a spacecraft passes in proximity to another body, usually a target of its space exploration mission and/or a source of a gravity assist to impel it towards another target. Spacecraft which are specifically designed for this purpose are known as flyby spacecraft, although the term has also been used in regard to asteroid flybys of Earth for example. Important parameters are the time and distance of closest approach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">252P/LINEAR</span> Periodic comet and near-earth object

Comet 252P/LINEAR is a periodic comet and near-Earth object discovered by the LINEAR survey on April 7, 2000. The comet is a Jupiter family comet, meaning that it passes quite close to the orbit of Jupiter.

<span class="nowrap">(671294) 2014 JO<sub>25</sub></span> Near-Earth asteroid discovered in 2014.

(671294) 2014 JO25 is a near-Earth asteroid. It was discovered in May 2014 by astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona - a project of NASA's NEO (Near Earth Object) Observations Program in collaboration with the University of Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS)</span> Oort cloud comet

C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) is an Oort cloud comet with an inbound hyperbolic orbit, discovered in May 2017 at a distance beyond the orbit of Saturn when it was 16 AU (2.4 billion km) from the Sun. Precovery images from 2013 were located by July. It had been in the constellation of Draco from July 2007 until August 2020. As of June 2022, the 3-sigma uncertainty in the current distance of the comet from the Sun is ±6000 km.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS)</span> Comet

C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS) is a comet, discovered using the Pan-STARRS telescopes on September 7, 2016. The comet attracted attention from many astronomers as it approached its closest point to the Sun in May 2018. It has been observed to have a very complex tail, which has been suggested to be due to a fast rotation period of the nucleus.

<span class="nowrap">(85990) 1999 JV<sub>6</sub></span> Asteroid

(85990) 1999 JV6 (provisional designation 1999 JV6) is a sub-kilometer near-Earth asteroid and a potentially hazardous object of the Apollo group. It was discovered by astronomers of the LINEAR program at the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico. 1999 JV6 is a contact binary object consisting of two distinct lobes, as seen in radar images from various observatories including Arecibo and Goldstone in January 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 SO</span> Space junk

2020 SO is a near-Earth object identified to be the Centaur upper stage used on 20 September 1966 to launch the Surveyor 2 spacecraft. The object was discovered by the Pan-STARRS 1 survey at the Haleakala Observatory on 17 September 2020. It was initially suspected to be an artificial object due to its low velocity relative to Earth and later on the noticeable effects of solar radiation pressure on its orbit. Spectroscopic observations by NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in December 2020 found that the object's spectrum is similar to that of stainless steel, confirming the object's artificial nature. Following the object's confirmation as space debris, the object was removed from the Minor Planet Center's database on 19 February 2021.

<span class="nowrap">(231937) 2001 FO<sub>32</sub></span> Asteroid

(231937) 2001 FO32 is a near-Earth asteroid classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. With an estimated diameter around 550 m (1,800 ft), it was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at Socorro, New Mexico on 23 March 2001. The asteroid safely passed by Earth on 21 March 2021 16:03 UTC from a closest approach distance of 0.0135 AU (2.02 million km; 1.25 million mi), or 5.25 lunar distances (LD). During the day before closest approach, 2001 FO32 reached a peak apparent magnitude of 11.7 and was visible to ground-based observers with telescope apertures of at least 20 cm (8 in). It is the largest and one of the fastest asteroids to approach Earth within 10 LD (3.8 million km; 2.4 million mi) in 2021.

<span class="nowrap">C/2014 UN<sub>271</sub></span> (Bernardinelli–Bernstein) Largest known Oort cloud comet

C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli–Bernstein), simply known as C/2014 UN271 or Comet Bernardinelli–Bernstein (nicknamed BB), is a large Oort cloud comet discovered by astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein in archival images from the Dark Energy Survey. When first imaged in October 2014, the object was 29 AU (4.3 billion km; 2.7 billion mi) from the Sun, almost as far as Neptune's orbit and the greatest distance at which a comet has been discovered. With a nucleus diameter of at least 120 km (75 mi), it is the largest Oort cloud comet known. It is approaching the Sun and will reach its perihelion of 10.9 AU (just outside of Saturn's orbit) in January 2031. It will not be visible to the naked eye because it will not enter the inner Solar System.

C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS) is perhaps an Oort cloud comet, discovered on 26 July 2021 by the Pan-STARRS sky survey. It came to perihelion on 21 April 2022 at 0.287 AU (42.9 million km). from the Sun.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Flyby Comet Was WAY Bigger Than Thought". Space.com. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  2. ↑ "460P/PANSTARRS". Small-Body Database Lookup. ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Comet Scanned by NASA Radar". www.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
  4. 1 2 3 McKirdy, Euan. "Close call? Third-closest comet fly-by". CNN. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Comet PanSTARRS 2016's Historic Flyby of Earth - Sky & Telescope". Sky & Telescope. 2016-03-16. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  6. 1 2 3 "A 'Tail' of Two Comets". NASA/JPL. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  7. ↑ "Two Comets Just Made Historic Near-Earth Flybys: See Images and Video". Space.com. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
  8. 1 2 3 "Comet flying by Earth observed with radar and infrared" . Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Green, Daniel (2 April 2023). "COMET P/2016 BA_14 = P/2020 U6 (PANSTARRS)". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 5243. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  10. ↑ "MPEC 2023-G14 : COMET P/2016 BA14 = P/2020 U6 (PANSTARRS)". www.minorplanetcenter.net. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  11. ↑ McKirdy, Euan. "Close call? Third-closest comet fly-by". CNN. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  12. ↑ "A 'Tail' of Two Comets". Jet Propulsion Laboratory .
  13. ↑ Li, Jian-Yang; Kelley, Michael S. P.; Samarasinha, Nalin H.; Farnocchia, Davide; Mutchler, Max J.; Ren, Yanqiong; Lu, Xiaoping; Tholen, David J.; Lister, Tim (2017-09-07). "The Unusual Apparition of Comet 252P/2000 G1 (LINEAR) and Comparison with Comet P/2016 BA14 (PanSTARRS)". The Astronomical Journal. 154 (4): 136. arXiv: 1708.05190 . Bibcode:2017AJ....154..136L. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/aa86ae . ISSN   1538-3881. S2CID   119338256.
  14. 1 2 3 Naidu, Shantanu P.; Benner, Lance A. M.; Brozovic, Marina; Giorgini, Jon D.; Jao, Joseph S.; Lee, Clement G.; Slade, Martin A.; Snedeker, Lawrence G.; Busch, Michael W.; Ghigo, Frank D. (1 October 2016). "High-resolution Goldstone radar imaging of comet P/2016 BA14 (Pan-STARRS)". AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts #48. 48: 219.05. Bibcode:2016DPS....4821905N . Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  15. ↑ "Dark Object Investigated While Making One of the Closest Ever Comet Flybys of Earth | Planetary Science Institute". Psi.edu. 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
  16. ↑ "Comet Scanned by NASA Radar | NASA". 6 December 2017.
  17. ↑ Ootsubo, Takafumi; Kawakita, Hideyo; Shinnaka, Yoshiharu (July 2021). "Mid-infrared observations of the nucleus of Comet P/2016 BA14 (PANSTARRS)". Icarus. 363: 114425. arXiv: 2103.06477 . doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114425. S2CID   232185674.
  18. ↑ Kareta, Theodore; Reddy, Vishnu; Sanchez, Juan A.; Harris, Walter M. (1 May 2022). "Near-infrared Spectroscopy of the Nucleus of Low-activity Comet P/2016 BA 14 during Its 2016 Close Approach". The Planetary Science Journal. 3 (5): 105. arXiv: 2204.01104 . doi: 10.3847/PSJ/ac63cb .
  19. 1 2 Li, Jian-Yang; Kelley, Michael S. P.; Samarasinha, Nalin H.; Farnocchia, Davide; Mutchler, Max J.; Ren, Yanqiong; Lu, Xiaoping; Tholen, David J.; Lister, Tim; Micheli, Marco (7 September 2017). "The Unusual Apparition of Comet 252P/2000 G1 (LINEAR) and Comparison with Comet P/2016 BA 14 (PanSTARRS)". The Astronomical Journal. 154 (4): 136. arXiv: 1708.05190 . Bibcode:2017AJ....154..136L. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/aa86ae .
  20. ↑ Hyland, M G; Fitzsimmons, A; Snodgrass, C (21 March 2019). "Near-UV and optical spectroscopy of comets using the ISIS spectrograph on the WHT". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 484 (1): 1347–1358. arXiv: 1901.03284 . doi: 10.1093/mnras/stz075 .
  21. ↑ Potential meteor outburst from a Near-Earth Comet (19 March 2023)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.