C/1977 D1 Lovas
more info
Comet C/1977 D1 was discovered on 17 February 1977, 3.5 months after its perihelion passage, and was last seen on 7 April 1978 [Kronk and Meyer, Cometography: Volume 5].
The comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 15 February 1977 (4.85 au), that was two days before its discovery.

Solution given here is based on data spanning over 1.07 yr in a range of heliocentric distances from 5.77 au to 6.81 au.
This Oort spike comet suffers rather small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system but these perturbations can lead to escape of the comet from the solar system (see original and future orbits).
See also Królikowska and Dybczyński 2017.

solution description
number of observations 17
data interval 1977 02 17 – 1978 04 07
data type observed only after perihelion (POST)
data arc selection entire data set (STD)
range of heliocentric distances 5.77 au – 6.81au
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 34
RMS [arcseconds] 2.38
orbit quality class 1b
orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 1976 10 29
perihelion date 1976 10 31.96005989 ± 0.11362968
perihelion distance [au] 5.71540781 ± 0.00042708
eccentricity 1.00408515 ± 0.00025922
argument of perihelion [°] 146.270960 ± 0.012528
ascending node [°] 338.171393 ± 0.000233
inclination [°] 64.524257 ± 0.000742
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] -714.76 ± 45.31
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.