C/2007 VO53 Spacewatch
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An apparently asteroidal object was discovered at Mt. Lemmon on 11 January 2008 and next was identified by T. Spahr with observations made by the Spacewatch survey of an object designated C/2007 VO53. Later, its cometary apperance was reported by several observers [IAUC 8911, 2008 January 18].

This comet made its closest approach to the Earth on 25 November 2009 (4.499 au), five months before perihelion.

Solutions given here are based on data spanning over 4.7 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 8.31 au – 4.843 au (perihelion) – 7.76 au.

This Oort spike comet suffers slight planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to a more tight future orbit (see future barycentric orbit).

See also Królikowska and Dones 2023, Królikowska and Dybczyński 2017,and Królikowska 2014.
solution description
number of observations 296
data interval 2007 10 20 – 2010 03 30
data arc selection data generally limited to pre-perihelion (PRE)
range of heliocentric distances 8.31 au – 4.85au
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 570
RMS [arcseconds] 0.40
orbit quality class 1a+
orbital elements (barycentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 1704 06 10
perihelion date 2010 04 26.22315126 ± 0.00084750
perihelion distance [au] 4.84067540 ± 0.00000579
eccentricity 0.99957040 ± 0.00000463
argument of perihelion [°] 75.075203 ± 0.000116
ascending node [°] 59.767729 ± 0.000010
inclination [°] 86.965736 ± 0.000016
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] 88.75 ± 0.96
file containing 5001 VCs swarm
2007vopa.bmi
Upper panel: 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.
Middle panel(s): O-C diagram for a given solution (sometimes in comparison to another solution available in CODE), where residuals in right ascension are shown using magenta dots and in declination by blue open circles.
Lowest panel: Relative weights for a given data set(s).
Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of original swarm including 5001 VCs. Each density map is given in logarithmic scale presented on the right in the individual panel.