C/2020 K8 | CODEC

C/2020 K8 Catalina-ATLAS

Comet C/2020 K8 was discovered on 25 May 2020, about 3.5 months before its perihelion passage and was observed to 6 April 2021.

Solutions given here (NG and GR) are based on data span over 0.866 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 2.18 au – 0.475 au (perihelion) – 3.40 au.

This Oort spike comet suffers moderate planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to escape the comet from the solar system on hyperbolic barycentric orbit.

2020k8a5 2020k8n5

solution description
number of observations	283
data interval	2020 05 25 – 2021 04 06
data type	significantly more measurements before perihelion (PRE+)
data arc selection	entire data set (STD)
range of heliocentric distances	2.18 au – 0.47 au (perihelion) – 3.4 au
type of model of motion	NS - non-gravitational orbits for standard g(r)
data weighting	YES
number of residuals	550
RMS [arcseconds]	0.44
orbit quality class	1b

next orbit statistics, both Galactic and stellar perturbations were taken into account
no. of returning VCs in the swarm	0
no. of escaping VCs in the swarm	5001
no. of hyperbolas among escaping VCs in the swarm	5001	*
next reciprocal semi-major axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-484.06 – -478.11 – -472.32
next perihelion distance [au]	2.74 – 2.77 – 2.81
synchronous stop epoch [Myr]	0.811	S
percentage of VCs with q_next < 10	100

next orbit statistics, here only the Galactic tide has been included
no. of returning VCs in the swarm	0
no. of escaping VCs in the swarm	5001
no. of hyperbolas among escaping VCs in the swarm	5001	*
next reciprocal semi-major axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-484.13 – -478.18 – -472.38
next perihelion distance [au]	2.64 – 2.67 – 2.7
synchronous stop epoch [Myr]	0.802	S
percentage of VCs with q_next < 10	100