C/2017 U7 (PanSTARRS)

C/2017 U7 (PanSTARRS)
Trajectory through solar system
Discovery [1][2]
Discovered byPan-STARRS
Discovery siteHaleakala Obs.
Discovery date29 October 2017
Designations
C/2017 U7
P10EwQh, A/2017 U7
hyperbolic comet [3]
Orbital characteristics [3]
Epoch 29 November 2017 (JD 2458086.5)
Uncertainty parameter n.a.
Observation arc176 days
Earliest precovery date18 August 2017[1]
Perihelion6.4187±0.0008 AU
−3700±300 AU[a]
Eccentricity1.0018±0.0001
1.000008 (Barycentric epoch 2200)[4]
~800000 years (inbound barycentric epoch 2000)
n.a.
0° 0m 0.016s / day
Inclination142.6390°
276.217°
325.95°
Earth MOID5.468 AU
Jupiter MOID1.635 AU
Physical characteristics
Dimensions13.5–59 km (assumed)[5]
20.6 (March 2018)
10.6±0.62

C/2017 U7 (PanSTARRS) is a hyperbolic comet (previously classified as A/2017 U7, a hyperbolic asteroid), first observed on 29 October 2017 by astronomers of the Pan-STARRS facility at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States when the object was 7.8 AU (1.2 billion km) from the Sun.[1] Despite being discovered only 10 days after interstellar asteroid 1I/'Oumuamua, it was not announced until March 2018 (along with C/2018 C2 (Lemmon), which was believed to be another hyperbolic asteroid at the time) as its orbit is not strongly hyperbolic beyond most Oort Cloud comets.[2] Based on the absolute magnitude of 10.6, it may measure tens of kilometers in diameter.[5] As of August 2018, there is only 1 hyperbolic asteroid known, ʻOumuamua,[6] but hundreds of hyperbolic comets are known.[7]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference MPC-object was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference MPEC2018-E17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference jpldata was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference barycenter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference h was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference jpl-hyperbolic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl; Aarseth, Sverre J. (6 February 2018). "Where the Solar system meets the solar neighbourhood: patterns in the distribution of radiants of observed hyperbolic minor bodies". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters. 476 (1): L1–L5. arXiv:1802.00778. Bibcode:2018MNRAS.476L...1D. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/sly019.


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