C/2019 K7 Smith
more info
Comet C/2019 K7 was discovered on 30 May 2019, more than one year before its perihelion passage. Later a few pre-discovery observations were found from 8 and 9 October 2017. This comet was observed until 4 April 2024 (as in February 2025).

Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 16 July 2020 (3.65 au), a month after its perihelion passage.

The preferred NG solution given here span over 6.49 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 8.64 au – 4.48 au (perihelion) – 10.95 au; orbits based on pre-perihelion and post-perihelion data independently are also presented.

This Oort spike comet suffers moderate planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to a more tight future orbit with semimajor axis of about 2,500 au (see future barycentric orbit).
solution description
number of observations 631
data interval 2017 10 08 – 2020 06 17
data arc selection data generally limited to pre-perihelion (PRE)
range of heliocentric distances 8.64 au – 4.48 au (perihelion) – 4.48 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 1246
RMS [arcseconds] 0.29
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] 16.49 – 17.31 – 18.55
previous perihelion distance [au] 1400 – 3900 – 8700
previous aphelion distance [103 au] 106 – 111 – 113
time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] 13 – 14.1 – 14.6
percentage of VCs with qprev > 20100
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).
previous_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
previous reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] 18.59 – 19.36 – 20.14
previous perihelion distance [au] 93 – 120 – 160
previous aphelion distance [103 au] 99.2 – 103 – 107
time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] 11.1 – 11.8 – 12.6
percentage of VCs with qprev > 20100