C/2001 K5 LINEAR

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C/2001 K5 LINEAR

General description

C/2001 K5 was discovered on 17 May 2001 by the LINEAR as an apparently asteroidal object. Soon, its cometary apperance was reported [IAUC 7634, 2001 May 28]. Later, pre-discovery observations by LINEAR from 30 April 2001 were found.

This comet made its closest approach to Earth on 30 May 2002 (4.432 au), 4.3 months before perihelion.

Solution given below is based on data span over 3.6 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 6.50 au – 5.184 au (perihelion) – 7.65 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 C2001K5A2-001

Comet C/2001 K5 LINEAR

number of observations	3402
number of residuals	6736
data interval	2001 Apr. 30 — 2004 Nov. 25
rms [arcsec]	0.66
orbit quality class	1a+

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT)	20021013.0	= JD 2452560.5
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20021011.769734	± 0.000225
perihelion distance	5.18425260	± 0.00000140
eccentricity	0.99962590	± 0.00000210
argument of perihelion [deg]	47.056315	± 0.000023
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	237.461926	± 0.000006
inclination [deg]	72.593297	± 0.000005
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	72.16	± 0.41

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/2001 K5. 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)	16970325
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20021011.974538	± 0.000225
perihelion distance	5.18958159	± 0.00000140
eccentricity	0.99994997	± 0.00000210
argument of perihelion [deg]	47.066240	± 0.000023
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	237.490666	± 0.000006
inclination [deg]	72.541315	± 0.000005
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	9.64	± 0.41

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)	23070217
time of perihelion passage (TT)	20021012.477784	± 0.000226
perihelion distance	5.18717324	± 0.00000144
eccentricity	1.00049165	± 0.00000210
argument of perihelion [deg]	47.114383	± 0.000023
longitude of the ascending node [deg]	237.451142	± 0.000006
inclination [deg]	72.550141	± 0.000005
inverse semimajor axis [10^-6 au^-1]	-94.78	± 0.41