C/2017 M4 ATLAS
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Comet C/2017 M4 was discovered on 21 June 2017 by Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) Team, that is about months after its perihelion passage.
Some prediscovery images of this comet were found: taken on 16 June 2017 by Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (Haleakala).
Solutions given here are based on data spanning over 4.46 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 6.09 au – 3.252 au (perihelion) – 9.19 au.
NG orbits using full data-arc as well as independently using pre-perihelion and post-perihelion data are determinable.
See also Królikowska and Dones 2023.
| solution description | ||
|---|---|---|
| number of observations | 1293 | |
| data interval | 2017 06 16 – 2018 05 24 | |
| data arc selection | data generally limited to pre-perihelion (PRE) | |
| range of heliocentric distances | 6.09 au – 3.95au | |
| detectability of NG effects in the comet's motion | comet with NG effects strongly manifested in positional data fitting | |
| type of model of motion | GR - gravitational orbit | |
| data weighting | YES | |
| number of residuals | 2552 | |
| RMS [arcseconds] | 0.32 | |
| orbit quality class | 1a | |
| previous 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 | |
| previous reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] | 38.01 – 38.49 – 38.96 | |
| previous perihelion distance [au] | 529 – 568 – 608 | |
| previous aphelion distance [103 au] | 50.8 – 51.4 – 52 | |
| time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] | 3.63 – 3.71 – 3.8 | |
| percentage of VCs with qprev > 20 | 100 | |
| previous 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 | |
| previous reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] | 40.38 – 41.07 – 41.76 | |
| previous perihelion distance [au] | 4.16 – 4.36 – 4.59 | |
| previous aphelion distance [103 au] | 47.9 – 48.7 – 49.5 | |
| time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] | 3.7 – 3.8 – 3.89 | |
| percentage of VCs with qprev < 10 | 100 | |