C/2012 CH17 MOSS
more info
Comet C/2012 CH17 was discovered on 7 February 2012 with Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey (MOSS), that is almost 7.5 months before its perihelion passage. Next, a few prediscovery images taken on 2 February 2012 with Catalina Sky Survey were found. After perihelion passage, it was observed only on 10 June 2013.
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 24 September 2012 (1.737 au), 4 days before its perihelion passage.
Solution given here is based on data spanning over 1.35 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 3.41 au – 1.296 au (perihelion) – 3.58 au.
According to preferred solution, this Oort spike comet suffers tiny planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system (see original and future barycentric orbits).
See also Królikowska 2020.

solution description
number of observations 651
data interval 2012 02 02 – 2012 08 27
data arc selection data generally limited to pre-perihelion (PRE)
range of heliocentric distances 3.41 au – 1.38au
type of model of motion NS - non-gravitational orbits for standard g(r)
data weighting YES
number of residuals 1288
RMS [arcseconds] 0.54
orbit quality class 2b
orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 2012 09 30
perihelion date 2012 09 28.17134827 ± 0.00958384
perihelion distance [au] 1.29676442 ± 0.00012169
eccentricity 0.99937053 ± 0.00013463
argument of perihelion [°] 137.925021 ± 0.010840
ascending node [°] 125.971870 ± 0.004900
inclination [°] 27.745338 ± 0.000612
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] 485.42 ± 103.81
Time distribution of positional observations with corresponding heliocentric (red curve) and geocentric (green curve) distance at which they were taken. The horizontal dotted line shows the perihelion distance for a given comet whereas vertical dotted line — the moment of perihelion passage.
non-gravitational parameters
A1 [10-8au/day2] 43.588 ± 7.615
A2 [10-8au/day2] 3.8838 ± 2.2407
A3 [10-8au/day2] -4.3489 ± 2.1679
m -2.15
n 5.093
k -4.6142
r0 [au] 2.808
α 0.1113