C/2017 B3 LINEAR
more info
Comet C/2017 B3 was discovered on 26 January 2017 with the LINEAR survey, , that is about two years before its perihelion passage. Some prediscovery images of this comet were found: taken on 1 and 10 of Aprilnbsp;2016 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (Haleakala).

Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 19nbsp;Augustnbsp;2019 (3.480nbsp;au), about a 6.5nbsp;months after its perihelion passage.

Preferred NGnbsp;solution given here is based on data arc spanning over 5.83nbsp;yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 9.16 au – 3.92 au (perihelion) – 9.15 au.

This comet suffers small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system; this is a long-period comet with original and future semimajor axes of about 3,300 au, and 2,100 au, respectively.
solution description
number of observations 277
data interval 2016 04 01 – 2018 05 23
data arc selection data generally limited to pre-perihelion (PRE)
range of heliocentric distances 8.98 au – 4.49au
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 523
RMS [arcseconds] 0.28
orbit quality class 1a+
orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 2019 02 06
perihelion date 2019 02 02.50358723 ± 0.00051080
perihelion distance [au] 3.92115462 ± 0.00000726
eccentricity 1.00210444 ± 0.00000331
argument of perihelion [°] 284.749677 ± 0.000134
ascending node [°] 2.177238 ± 0.000011
inclination [°] 54.178751 ± 0.000015
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] -536.69 ± 0.84
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).