460P/PanSTARRS

460P/PanSTARRS

Radar images of 460P/PanSTARRS from its 2016 Earth flyby[1]
Discovery
Discovered by	Pan-STARRS
Discovery date	22 January 2016
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch	12 April 2016 (JD 2457490.5)
Observation arc	0.86 yr (313 days)
Aphelion	5.036 AU
Perihelion	1.009 AU
Semi-major axis	3.022 AU
Eccentricity	0.6663
Orbital period	5.25 years (1,919 days)
Inclination	18.919°
Longitude of ascending node	180.534°
Argument of periapsis	351.896°
Mean anomaly	36.425°
Last perihelion	17 June 2021 15 March 2016
Next perihelion	21 September 2026
TJupiter	2.797
Earth MOID	0.01617 AU (2,419,000 km)
Jupiter MOID	0.09361 AU (14,004,000 km)
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	1 km[3]
Synodic rotation period	36.6 h
Geometric albedo	0.03[1]
Comet total magnitude (M1)	21.3±0.5
Comet nuclear magnitude (M2)	23.1±0.6

460P/PanSTARRS (also known with the provisional designation P/2016 BA₁₄) is a near-Earth object and periodic comet of the Jupiter family, with an orbital period of 5.25 years. In March 2016 it passed at distance of 2.2 million miles (3.5 million km, or 9 lunar distances) from Earth.^[1] It was the closest approach by a comet since 1770 and 3rd closest recorded comet to Earth.^[4] The close flyby enabled the size of the nucleus to be calculated at about 1 km (0.62 mi) in diameter, which was much bigger than expected.^[1][3] The comet is very dark, reflecting about 2-3 percent of the visible light,^[1] about the same as a charcoal briquette. It has a very similar orbit as numbered comet 252P/LINEAR, and may be related to it (e.g. split off of).^[5]