C/2016 Q2 PANSTARRS
more info
Comet C/2016 Q2 was discovered on 26 August 2016 with the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (Haleakala), that is more than 5 years before its perihelion passage. This comet was observed until the end of mid-2024 and is still observable.

Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 24 May 2021 (6.805 au), about 2 weeks after its perihelion passage.

Preferred NG solution given here is based on data spanning over 7.63 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 12.58 au – 7.08 au (perihelion) – 9.74 au.

This comet suffers tiny planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system; this is a long-period comet with original and future semimajor axes of about 7,500 au and 6,700 au, respectively.

#********************************** update of 'Oort spike' comets 2016 - 2020, comet no 2; long-period comet

solution description
number of observations 617
data interval 2016 08 26 – 2024 04 12
data type perihelion within the observation arc (FULL)
data arc selection entire data set (STD)
range of heliocentric distances 12.58 au – 7.08 au (perihelion) – 9.74 au
detectability of NG effects in the comet's motion comet with determinable NG~orbit
type of model of motion GR - gravitational orbit
data weighting YES
number of residuals 1228
RMS [arcseconds] 0.53
orbit quality class 1a+
next 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
next reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] 155.53 – 156.02 – 156.52
next perihelion distance [au] 7.0083 – 7.009 – 7.0098
next aphelion distance [103 au] 12.77 – 12.81 – 12.85
time interval to next perihelion [Myr] 0.51 – 0.5124 – 0.5149
percentage of VCs with qnext < 10100
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.
next_g 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
next reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] 155.54 – 156.03 – 156.52
next perihelion distance [au] 7.0077 – 7.0086 – 7.0094
next aphelion distance [103 au] 12.77 – 12.81 – 12.85
time interval to next perihelion [Myr] 0.51 – 0.5124 – 0.5148
percentage of VCs with qnext < 10100