398P/Boattini

For other comets of the same name, see Comet Boattini.

398P/Boattini
Comet 398P/Boattini photographed from the Zwicky Transient Facility on 28 December 2020.
Discovery[1]
Discovered byAndrea Boattini
Discovery siteCatalina Sky Survey
Discovery date26 August 2009
Designations
P/2009 Q4, P/2020 P2
Boattini 5
Orbital characteristics[2][3]
Epoch21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5)
Observation arc21.54 years
Earliest precovery date31 January 2004
Number of
observations		2,545
Aphelion4.947 AU
Perihelion1.300 AU
Semi-major axis3.124 AU
Eccentricity0.58377
Inclination11.028°
127.41°
Argument of
periapsis		320.29°
Mean anomaly319.13°
Last perihelion26 December 2020
Next perihelion7 July 2026
TJupiter2.901
Earth MOID0.346 AU
Jupiter MOID0.599 AU
Physical characteristics[2]
Mean radius
0.6 km (0.37 mi)[4]
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		15.2
Comet nuclear
magnitude (M2)		17.1

Comet Boattini 5, also known as 398P/Boattini, is a Jupiter-family comet with a 5.53-year orbit around the Sun. It is the 10th comet discovered by Italian astronomer, Andrea Boattini.[a]

Observational history

Boattini spotted this comet, initially designated as P/2009 Q4, as a 19th-magnitude object with a strongly condensed coma on the night of 26 August 2009.[1] At the time, it was located in the constellation Taurus.[b] Precovery images of the comet as early as January 2004 were also found.[3] Additional astrometric measurements conducted in October 2009 had shown the comet as periodic, completing one revolution once every 5.5 years.[5]

The comet was predicted to return in June 2015, but no observations were reported. However in August 2025, the COIAS project did found archival images of the comet's 2015 apparition, which was taken by the Subaru Telescope.[6]

It was later recovered on its next apparition as P/2020 P2, on CCD images taken from the ATLAS facility of the Mauna Loa Observatory.[7] It experienced an outburst on 28 September 2020 when it temporarily brightened by 1.6 magnitudes for four days.[8] Observations from TESS noted that the comet exhibited a two-phase brightening on another outburst event in early 2021.[9]

It was given a permanent numerical designation as 398P/Boattini in December 2020.[10]

Physical characteristics

Infrared observations conducted by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in 2010 revealed that the nucleus of 398P/Boattini has an effective radius of around 0.6 km (0.37 mi).[4]

Narrowband-filter observations at the TRAPPIST-North facility of the Oukaïmeden Observatory in November 2020 detected emissions of cyanogen (CN) compounds in its coma, however it was noticeably depleted in carbon compounds (C2 and C3),[11][12] one of a few such carbon-chain poor Jupiter-family comets ever known.[c]

Notes

  1. ^ This figure includes 206P/Barnard–Boattini, a comet originally discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard in 1892 and was previously lost for 116 years until Boattini spotted it in 2008.
  2. ^ Reported initial position upon discovery was: α = 4h 27m 20.05s, δ = 8° 18′ 42.1″[1]
  3. ^ The other known carbon-chain poor JFCs were 21P/Giacobini–Zinner and 260P/McNaught.

References

  1. ^ a b c A. Boattini; R. E. Hill; R. Ligustri (August 2009). D. W. Green (ed.). "Comet C/2009 Q4 (Boattini)". IAU Circular. 9069 (2). Bibcode:2009IAUC.9069....2B.
  2. ^ a b "398P/Boattini – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b "398P/Boattini Orbit". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  4. ^ a b J. M. Bauer; T. Grav; Y. R. Fernández; et al. (2017). "Debiasing the NEOWISE Cryogenic Mission Comet Populations". The Astronomical Journal. 154 (2): 53–62. Bibcode:2017AJ....154...53B. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa72df.
  5. ^ D. W. Green (October 2009). "Comet P/2009 Q4 (Boattini)". IAU Circular. 9081 (2). Bibcode:2009IAUC.9081....2G.
  6. ^ J. Shanklin (26 August 2025). "BAA Comet Section: Periodic Comets 300–399 (398P/Boattini)". British Astronomical Association. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  7. ^ N. Erasmus; H. Sato; A. Fitzsimmons; et al. (August 2020). D. W. Green (ed.). "Comet P/2020 P2 = P/2009 Q4 (Boattini)". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 4829. Bibcode:2020CBET.4829....1E.
  8. ^ A. F. Gillan; A. Fitzsimmons; L. Denneau (2024). "Dust Production Rates in Jupiter-family Comets: A Two Year Study with ATLAS Photometry". The Planetary Science Journal. 5 (1): 25–39. arXiv:2312.06817. Bibcode:2024PSJ.....5...25G. doi:10.3847/PSJ/ad1394.
  9. ^ T. L. Farnham; M. S. P. Kelley; J. M. Bauer (2021). "A Survey of Comets using TESS". Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 53 (7). Bibcode:2021DPS....5330106F.
  10. ^ D. W. Green (December 2020). "New Numberings of Short-Period Comets". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 4898. Bibcode:2020CBET.4898....1.
  11. ^ E. Jehin; Y. Moulane; J. Manfroid; et al. (2020). "398P/Boattini a new JFC carbon-chain poor comet". The Astronomer's Telegram. 14251 (1). Bibcode:2020ATel14251....1J.
  12. ^ Y. Moulane (2021). Monitoring the Activity and Composition of Comets With TRAPPIST Telescopes (Doctorate thesis). Vol. 83–06. Belgium: Universite de Liege. p. 86. Bibcode:2021PhDT........42M.


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