C/2021 Q6 PanSTARRS
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Comet C/2021 Q6 was discovered on 22 August 2021 with the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (Haleakala), that is two years and seven months before its perihelion passage.

Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 2 September 2024 (7.76 au), about half a year after its perihelion passage.

Preferred GR solution given here is based on data span over 3.81 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 10.99 au – 8.71 au (perihelion) – 8.80 au.

This Oort spike comet suffers tiny planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that likely lead to escape this comet from the solar system on a marginally hyperbolic orbit.
solution description
number of observations 371
data interval 2021 01 02 – 2024 10 25
data type perihelion within the observation arc (FULL)
data arc selection entire data set (STD)
range of heliocentric distances 10.99 au – 8.71 au (perihelion) – 8.8 au
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 615
RMS [arcseconds] 0.26
orbit quality class 1a+
orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 2024 03 31
perihelion date 2024 03 25.04440792 ± 0.00270492
perihelion distance [au] 8.70781174 ± 0.00001162
eccentricity 1.00113670 ± 0.00000566
argument of perihelion [°] 141.022666 ± 0.000167
ascending node [°] 133.536856 ± 0.000039
inclination [°] 161.846534 ± 0.000004
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] -130.54 ± 0.65
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.