C/2020 A2 (Iwamoto)
Comet C/2020 A2 (Iwamoto) photographed from the Zwicky Transient Facility on 19 February 2020. | |
| Discovery[1][2] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Masayuki Iwamoto |
| Discovery site | Tokushima, Japan |
| Discovery date | 8 January 2020 |
| Designations | |
| CK20A020,[2] IF033[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[4] | |
| Epoch | 23 February 2020 (JD 2458902.5) |
| Observation arc | 104 days |
| Number of observations | 529 |
| Aphelion | ~2,120 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.978 AU |
| Semi-major axis | ~1,060 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.99908 |
| Orbital period | ~34,500 years |
| Inclination | 120.75° |
| 286.38° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 68.209° |
| Mean anomaly | 0.0013° |
| Last perihelion | 8 January 2020 |
| TJupiter | –0.622 |
| Earth MOID | 0.312 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 1.129 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 15.1 |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 17.2 |
| 9.6[5] (2020 apparition) | |
Comet Iwamoto, formally designated as C/2020 A2 is a faint non-periodic comet that was observed between January and April 2020. As of 2025, it is the fourth and most recent comet discovered by Japanese astronomer, Masayuki Iwamoto.[6][a]
Observational history
Masayuki Iwamoto reported a new 14th-magnitude object with cometary features on the night of 8 January 2020, which was moving gradually north within the constellation Ophiuchus.[3][b] Nearly five days later, Gennadiy Borisov confirmed the existence of Iwamoto's new comet, reporting that it has a diffuse coma about 40 arcseconds in diameter.[2] Additional observations from the Xingming Observatory, Magdalena Ridge Observatory, and other sites between 10 and 14 January 2020 reveal that the comet does not have a tail at the time.[7]
References
Notes
- ^ This figure includes C/2018 V1 (Machholz–Fujikawa–Iwamoto), which Iwamoto had co-discovered with Donald Machholz and Shigehisa Fujikawa
- ^ Reported initial position upon discovery was: α = 17h 52m 58.28s, δ = 5° 44′ 30″[2]
Citations
- ^ M. Iwamoto (January 2020). D. W. Green (ed.). "Comet C/2020 A2 (Iwamoto)". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 4714 (1).
- ^ a b c d M. Iwamoto; G. Borisov; et al. (18 April 2024). "Comet C/2020 A2 (Iwamoto)". Minor Planet Electronic Circulars. 2020-A132. ISSN 1523-6714.
- ^ a b N. James (15 January 2020). "Comet C/2020 A2 (Iwamoto)". britastro.org. British Astronomical Association. Retrieved 2 October 2025.
- ^ "C/2020 A2 (Iwamoto) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
- ^ "Observation list for C/2020 A2". COBS – Comet OBServation database. Retrieved 2 October 2025.
- ^ "New Comet Discovered by Japanese Amateur Astronomer". National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
- ^ Q. Z. Ye; G. Sun; et al. (January 2020). D. W. Green (ed.). "Comet C/2020 A2 (Iwamoto)". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. 4715 (1). Bibcode:2020CBET.4715....1Y.
External links
- C/2020 A2 at the JPL Small-Body Database
- C/2020 A2 at Gideon van Buitenen's website
- C/2020 A2 at Seiichi Yoshida's website
- C/2020 A2 at In-The-Sky.org