C/2017 U7
more info
Comet C/2017 U7 was discovered on 29 October 2017 with Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (Haleakala), that is almost 2 years before its perihelion passage. Several prediscovery images of this comet were found: taken by the same survey from 18 August and 13 September 2017. This comet was observed until 3 August 2022 (as on September 2023).

Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 1 August 2019 (5.493 au), less than 1.5 months before its perihelion passage.

The preferred solution given here is based on data spanning over 4.96 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 8.14 au – 6.42 au (perihelion) – 9.41 au.

This near-parabolic comet (original semimajor axis around 9,000 au) 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 920
data interval 2017 08 18 – 2022 08 03
data type perihelion within the observation arc (FULL)
data arc selection entire data set (STD)
range of heliocentric distances 8.14 au – 6.42 au (perihelion) – 9.41 au
type of model of motion NC - non-gravitational orbits for symmetric CO-g(r)-like function
data weighting YES
number of residuals 1781
RMS [arcseconds] 0.34
orbit quality class 1a+
previous orbit statistics, both Galactic and stellar perturbations were taken into account
no. of returning VCs in the swarm 5001 *
no. of escaping VCs in the swarm 0
no. of hyperbolas among escaping VCs in the swarm 0
previous reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] 120.05 – 121.44 – 122.77
previous perihelion distance [au] 6.164 – 6.174 – 6.184
previous aphelion distance [103 au] 16.3 – 16.5 – 16.7
time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] 0.734 – 0.746 – 0.759
percentage of VCs with qprev < 10100
previous orbit statistics, here only the Galactic tide has been included
no. of returning VCs in the swarm 5001 *
no. of escaping VCs in the swarm 0
no. of hyperbolas among escaping VCs in the swarm 0
previous reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] 120.05 – 121.44 – 122.77
previous perihelion distance [au] 6.17 – 6.179 – 6.188
previous aphelion distance [103 au] 16.3 – 16.5 – 16.7
time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] 0.734 – 0.746 – 0.759
percentage of VCs with qprev < 10100