C/2020 O2 Amaral
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Comet C/2020 O2 was discovered on 23 July 2020, more than one year before its perihelion passage. This comet was observed until 21 September 2024 (as in February 2025).
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 10 Junel 2021 (3.89 au); about 2.5 months before its perihelion passage.
Currently, the preferred NG solution given here is based on data span over 3.16 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 5.76 au – 4.86 au (perihelion) – 7.44 au.
This Oort spike comet suffers small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to a more tight future orbit (semimajor axis of about 3,800 au).
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 10 Junel 2021 (3.89 au); about 2.5 months before its perihelion passage.
Currently, the preferred NG solution given here is based on data span over 3.16 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 5.76 au – 4.86 au (perihelion) – 7.44 au.
This Oort spike comet suffers small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to a more tight future orbit (semimajor axis of about 3,800 au).
solution description | ||
---|---|---|
number of observations | 1618 | |
data interval | 2020 07 23 – 2023 09 21 | |
data type | perihelion within the observation arc (FULL) | |
data arc selection | entire data set (STD) | |
range of heliocentric distances | 5.76 au – 4.86 au (perihelion) – 7.44 au | |
type of model of motion | NC - non-gravitational orbits for symmetric CO-g(r)-like function | |
data weighting | YES | |
number of residuals | 3182 | |
RMS [arcseconds] | 0.43 | |
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] | 32.67 – 34.34 – 35.95 | |
previous perihelion distance [au] | 982 – 1070 – 1140 | |
previous aphelion distance [103 au] | 54.7 – 57.2 – 60.1 | |
time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] | 4.37 – 4.73 – 5.13 | |
percentage of VCs with qprev > 20 | 100 |

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).
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] | 32.95 – 34.91 – 36.92 | |
previous perihelion distance [au] | 8.6 – 9.9 – 12 | |
previous aphelion distance [103 au] | 54.2 – 57.3 – 60.7 | |
time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] | 4.47 – 4.86 – 5.3 | |
percentage of VCs with qprev < 10 | 54 | |
percentage of VCs with 10 < qprev < 20 | 46 |