C/2000 CT54 LINEAR

Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group

C/2000 CT₅₄ LINEAR

General description

C/2000 CT₅₄ was discovered on 2 February 2000 by LINEAR Survey as apparently asteroidal object. At once, its cometary apperance was reported [IAUC 7368, 2000 February 18]. Later, pre-discovery detections from 28 January 2000 (LINEAR data) and 21 March 1999 (Sloan Digital Sky Survey) were found.

This comet made its closest approach to Earth on 29 July 2001 (2.606 au), 40 days after perihelion.

Non-gravitational solution given below is based on data span over 4.8 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 7.72 au – 3.156 au (perihelion) – 8.52 au.

Figure caption: 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.

SSDP Cometary Note C2000CTN2-001

Comet C/2000 CT₅₄ LINEAR

number of observations	210
number of residuals	417
data interval	1999 Mar. 21 — 2004 Jan. 17
rms [arcsec]	0.75
orbit quality class	1a+

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	20010620.0	= JD 2452080.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20010619.500943	± 0.000247
perihelion distance	3.15599443	± 0.00000824
eccentricity	0.99861902	± 0.00000833
argument of perihelion [deg]	272.649348	± 0.000048
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	18.964790	± 0.000019
inclination [deg]	49.206633	± 0.000042
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	437.57	± 2.64

Nongravitational parameters [10^-8 au/day²]

A₁ = 778.0 ± 53.6

A₂ = 51.5 ± 25.9

A₃ = 0.0 (assumed)

Note: Epoch is given in a format: yyyymmdd.d, time of perihelion passage in a format of yyyymmdd.dddddd.

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of original swarm (5001 VCs) of C/2000 CT₅₄. Each density map is given in logarithmic scale presented on the right in the individual panel.
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Original orbital elements (barycentric; at 250 au from the Sun)

Epoch (TT)	16980827
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20010620.058041	± 0.001270
perihelion distance	3.16327619	± 0.00001040
eccentricity	0.99976954	± 0.00000967
argument of perihelion [deg]	272.560232	± 0.000318
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	18.986874	± 0.000019
inclination [deg]	49.142424	± 0.000041
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	72.86	± 3.06

Note: Values of uncertainties of original/future orbital elements were derived using a swarm of 5001 osculating orbits of VCs (including the nominal osculating orbit given above) for original/future orbital evolution calclulations and then by fitting the distribution of a given orbital element of original/future swarm of VCs to Gaussian distribution.

Original barycentric positions and velocities of 5001 VCs at 250 au from the Sun are given here (data format), i.e. before entering the planetary zone.

Future orbital elements (barycentric; at 250 au from the Sun)

Epoch (TT)	23100601
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20010620.167758	± 0.001071
perihelion distance	3.15378664	± 0.00001050
eccentricity	0.99815414	± 0.00000798
argument of perihelion [deg]	272.617606	± 0.000300
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	18.898590	± 0.000019
inclination [deg]	49.175381	± 0.000041
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	585.28	± 2.53

Future barycentric positions and velocities of 5001 VCs at 250 au from the Sun are given here (data format), i.e. after leaving the planetary zone.