C/2017 K5 PANSTARRS
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Comet C/2017 K5 was discovered on 27 May 2017 with Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (Haleakala), that is almost 3 years before its perihelion passage. This comet was observed until 9 July 2020.

Comet will have its closest approach to the Earth on 2 July 2020 (6.688 au), a bit more than a 3 months after its perihelion passage.

The preferred solution given here is based on pre-perihelion data spanning over 3.12 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 9.90 au – 7.68 au (perihelion) – 7.71 au.

This Oort spike comet suffers small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that likely lead to escape the comet from the planetary zone on a hyperbolic orbit (see future barycentric orbits).
solution description
number of observations 25
data interval 2017 05 27 – 2018 05 12
data arc selection data generally limited to pre-perihelion (PRE)
range of heliocentric distances 9.9 au – 8.74au
detectability of NG effects in the comet's motion NG effects not determinable
type of model of motion GR - gravitational orbit
data weighting NO
number of residuals 50
RMS [arcseconds] 0.35
orbit quality class 1b
orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 2020 03 12
perihelion date 2020 03 24.31625348 ± 0.02728133
perihelion distance [au] 7.67854718 ± 0.00032727
eccentricity 1.00600594 ± 0.00007627
argument of perihelion [°] 171.840159 ± 0.003984
ascending node [°] 102.375784 ± 0.000336
inclination [°] 82.262549 ± 0.000179
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] -782.17 ± 10.03
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.