Solar System
Dynamics &
Planetology
Group 		C/2002 R3 LONEOS




data set of C/2002 R3

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General description

C/2002 R3 was discovered on 4 September 2002 by the LONEOS as an apparently asteroidal object. A few days later its cometary apperance was reported by observers [IAUC 7970, 2002 September 14].

This comet made its closest approach to Earth on 13 September 2003 (3.004 au), three months after perihelion.

Solution given below is based on data span over 1,7 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 4.57 au – 3.869 au (perihelion) – 4.88 au.

Comet suffered a very slight planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system.


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 C2002R3N2-001

Comet C/2002 R3 LONEOS

number of observations 1274
number of residuals 2530
data interval 2002 Sep. 4 — 2004 May 24
rms [arcsec] 0.52
orbit quality class 1a

Osculating orbital elements (heliocentric; ecliptic J2000.0)

Epoch (TT) 20030610.0 = JD 2452800.5
time of perihelion passage (TT) 20030613.470930 ± 0.001417
perihelion distance 3.86946979 ± 0.00000421
eccentricity 1.00267793 ± 0.00000700
argument of perihelion [deg] 45.067172 ± 0.000275
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 54.296421 ± 0.000057
inclination [deg] 161.095581 ± 0.000012
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] -692.07 ± 1.81

Nongravitational parameters [10-8 au/day2] A1 = 17852 ± 2637 A2 = 5815 ± 3514 A3 = 272 ± 621

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

data set of C/2002 R3

Figure caption: Six 2D-projections of the 6D space of original swarm (5001 VCs) of C/2002 R3. 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) 16991001
time of perihelion passage (TT) 20030613.160670 ± 0.001468
perihelion distance 3.87017657 ± 0.00000698
eccentricity 0.99981363 ± 0.00001189
argument of perihelion [deg] 44.821560 ± 0.000251
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 54.088264 ± 0.000025
inclination [deg] 161.179102 ± 0.000037
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 48.16 ± 3.07

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) 23060910
time of perihelion passage (TT) 20030612.238091 ± 0.002420
perihelion distance 3.87294504 ± 0.00000705
eccentricity 0.99998505 ± 0.00002452
argument of perihelion [deg] 44.982189 ± 0.000475
longitude of the ascending node [deg] 54.297596 ± 0.000181
inclination [deg] 161.114685 ± 0.000029
inverse semimajor axis [10-6 au-1] 3.86 ± 6.33


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.





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