C/2021 Q4 Fuls
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Comet C/2021 Q4 was discovered on 26 August 2021 with the Mt. Lemmon Survey, that is a year and nine months before its perihelion passage. This comet is still observed (s in April 2025)
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 17 September 2023 (6.69 au), about three months after its perihelion passage.
The preferred NG solution given here ('c4') is based on data span over 4.68 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 10.25 au – 7.56 au (perihelion) – 8.35 au.
This long-period comet suffers small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to a more tight future orbit; its original and future orbits have semimajor axes of about 8,000 au and 3,600 au, respectively.
Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 17 September 2023 (6.69 au), about three months after its perihelion passage.
The preferred NG solution given here ('c4') is based on data span over 4.68 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 10.25 au – 7.56 au (perihelion) – 8.35 au.
This long-period comet suffers small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to a more tight future orbit; its original and future orbits have semimajor axes of about 8,000 au and 3,600 au, respectively.
| solution description | ||
|---|---|---|
| number of observations | 545 | |
| data interval | 2020 04 27 – 2024 12 31 | |
| data type | perihelion within the observation arc (FULL) | |
| data arc selection | entire data set (STD) | |
| range of heliocentric distances | 10.25 au – 7.57 au (perihelion) – 8.35 au | |
| type of model of motion | NC - non-gravitational orbits for symmetric CO-g(r)-like function | |
| data weighting | YES | |
| number of residuals | 1066 | |
| RMS [arcseconds] | 0.30 | |
| orbit quality class | 1a+ | |
| next 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 | |
| next reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] | 274.70 – 277.21 – 279.80 | |
| next perihelion distance [au] | 7.54537 – 7.5456 – 7.54583 | |
| next aphelion distance [103 au] | 7.14 – 7.207 – 7.273 | |
| time interval to next perihelion [Myr] | 0.213 – 0.216 – 0.219 | |
| percentage of VCs with qnext < 10 | 100 | |
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.
| next_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 | |
| next reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] | 274.72 – 277.22 – 279.82 | |
| next perihelion distance [au] | 7.53841 – 7.53868 – 7.53894 | |
| next aphelion distance [103 au] | 7.14 – 7.207 – 7.273 | |
| time interval to next perihelion [Myr] | 0.213 – 0.216 – 0.219 | |
| percentage of VCs with qnext < 10 | 100 | |