C/2020 F2 ATLAS
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Comet C/2020 F2 was discovered on 21 March 2020, more than three years before its perihelion passage. Later a series of pre-discovery observations were found going back to 27 May 2019 (heliocentric disctance: 10.96 au). This comet was observed until 30 May 2024 (as in February 2025).

Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 19 April 2022 (7.85 au); about three months before its perihelion passage.

The preferred GR solution given here is based on data span over 5.01 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 10.96 au – 8.82 au (perihelion) – 9.66 au.

This Oort spike comet suffers tiny planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to a bit less tight future orbit inside the Oort spike zone (see future barycentric orbits).
solution description
number of observations 1247
data interval 2019 05 27 – 2022 07 14
data arc selection data generally limited to pre-perihelion (PRE)
range of heliocentric distances 10.96 au – 8.82au
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 2468
RMS [arcseconds] 0.31
orbit quality class 1a+
orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 2022 08 09
perihelion date 2022 07 15.61010069 ± 0.00131662
perihelion distance [au] 8.81709758 ± 0.00000540
eccentricity 1.00523049 ± 0.00000337
argument of perihelion [°] 48.352540 ± 0.000074
ascending node [°] 250.274825 ± 0.000016
inclination [°] 163.585492 ± 0.000008
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] -593.22 ± 0.38
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).