External links
- P/2010 H2 at the JPL Small-Body Database
- P/2010 H2 at Seiichi Yoshida's website
| Discovery [1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Jan Vales |
| Discovery site | Črni Vrh Observatory |
| Discovery date | 16 April 2010 |
| Orbital characteristics [2] | |
| Epoch | 8 May 2010 (JD 2455324.5) |
| Observation arc | 141 days |
| Earliest precovery date | 15 April 2010 [3] |
| Number of observations | 1,631 |
| Aphelion | 4.593 AU |
| Perihelion | 3.108 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 3.851 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.19291 |
| Orbital period | 7.556 years |
| Inclination | 14.253° |
| 64.309° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 130.12° |
| Mean anomaly | 7.781° |
| Last perihelion | 10 March 2025 |
| Next perihelion | 2032 |
| TJupiter | 2.988 |
| Earth MOID | 2.129 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.613 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean radius | 1.5 km (0.93 mi) [4] |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 7.0 |
P/2010 H2 (Vales), is a distant Jupiter-family comet with a 7.5-year orbit around the Sun. Its frequent encounters with Jupiter also classify it as a quasi-Hilda comet. [4] As of 2025 [update] , it is the only comet discovered so far by Slovenian astronomer, Jan Vales.
The comet underwent a massive outburst when it was discovered by Jan Vales on 16 April 2010. [1] No prediscovery observations earlier than 15 April 2010 were found. [3] Later analysis of data from the Catalina Sky Survey indicated that the outburst may have been ongoing for 15 hours at the time, resulting in its brightness increased by a thousand-fold. [4]
Observations conducted on the day after discovery noted that its coma had undergone a significant increase in size, from 24–26 arcseconds to 34–38 arcseconds across. [5]
Although calculated to have a relatively short orbital period, it was not recovered during its next apparition in 2017. [6] On 17 March 2023, Toni Scarmato reported the observation of an object close to the predicted position of P/2010 H2, indicating a possible recovery of the comet. [7] Further analysis in 2024 did not match the position of the initial reports, concluding that Scarmato's find is likely a different object. [8]
