C/2004 X3 LINEAR
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C/2004 X3 was discovered on 15 December 2004 by the LINEAR as an apparently asteroidal object. In the following week its cometary apperance was reported by observers [IAUC 8457, 2004 December 21]. At the moment of discovery, it was 6 months before its perihelion passage (see figure).
This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 9 March 2005 (3.499 au), 3.3 months before perihelion.
Solution given here is based on data spanning over 1.3 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 4.65 au – 4.402 au (perihelion) – 4.98 au.
This Oort spike comet suffers notable planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to escape of the comet from the solar system on hiperbolic orbit (see future barycentric orbit).
See also Królikowska 2014 and Królikowska and Dybczyński 2017.

solution description
number of observations 250
data interval 2004 12 15 – 2006 03 31
data type significantly more measurements before perihelion (PRE+)
data arc selection entire data set (STD)
range of heliocentric distances 4.65 au – 4.40 au (perihelion) – 4.98 au
detectability of NG effects in the comet's motion NG effects not determinable
type of model of motion GR - gravitational orbit
data weighting YES
number of residuals 487
RMS [arcseconds] 0.51
orbit quality class 1a
orbital elements (barycentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 2302 06 03
perihelion date 2005 06 16.64592600 ± 0.00139700
perihelion distance [au] 4.39810248 ± 0.00000560
eccentricity 1.00281265 ± 0.00000933
argument of perihelion [°] 202.017151 ± 0.000206
ascending node [°] 343.041981 ± 0.000014
inclination [°] 81.09311 ± 0.000081
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] -639.51 ± 2.12
file containing 5001 VCs swarm
2004x3a2.bpl
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.
Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of future swarm including 5001 VCs. Each density map is given in logarithmic scale presented on the right in the individual panel.