C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS)

C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS) is an Oort cloud comet, discovered on 26 July 2021 by the Pan-STARRS sky survey. It will come to perihelion on 21 April 2022 at 0.287 AU (42.9 million km). from the Sun. It might reach apparent magnitude 5 by late April 2022, but will only be 15 degrees from the Sun.[3][4] C/2021 O3 will make its closest approach to Earth on 8 May 2022 at a distance of 0.60 AU (90 million km).[5] As a dynamically new comet from the Oort cloud there is a high risk of disintegration.

C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS)
Discovery
Discovered byPan-STARRS
Discovery date26 July 2021
Orbital characteristics A
Epoch2021-Aug-21
Observation arc53 days
Number of
observations		279
Orbit typeOort cloud[1]
Perihelion0.287 AU[2]
Eccentricity1.00005 (epoch 1950)[1]
1.002 (epoch 2021)[2]
1.0001 (epoch 2100)[1]
Inclination56.75°
Node189.03°
Argument of
periapsis		299.97°
TJupiter0.446
Earth MOID0.062 au[2]
Jupiter MOID2.16 au
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		10.6
Next perihelion21 April 2022

Orbit
Orbit through inner Solar System

With a short observation arc of 7 days, the Minor Planet Center used an assumed eccentricity of 1.0 for the orbit solution.[6] Due to statistics of small numbers, with a short 10 day arc JPL had an eccentricity of 0.99595±0.00444 which could be as high as 1.00039 or as low as 0.99151.[7] With an observation arc of 53 days, JPL Horizons shows both an inbound and outbound eccentricity greater than 1.[1]

C/2021 O3 probably took millions of years to arrive from the outer Oort cloud and may be ejected from the Solar System.[1]

References
  1. "JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris for 2021 O3 at epoch 1950 and 2100 (barycentric)". JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 29 September 2021. Solution using the Solar System Barycenter. Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0 (To be outside planetary region, inbound epoch 1950 and outbound epoch 2100. Aphelia/orbital periods defined while in the planetary-region are misleading for knowing the long-term inbound/outbound solutions.)
  2. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS)". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  3. "Electronic Telegram No. 5009". Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams. 1 August 2021.
  4. "C/2021 O3 ( PanSTARRS )". Seiichi Yoshida.
  5. "Closest Approach to Earth 2022" (Closest Earth approach occurs when deldot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  6. "MPEC 2021-P05 : COMET C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS)] (7-day arc)". Minor Planet Electronic Circulars. Minor Planet Center. 1 August 2021.
  7. Archive of JPL #2 (with a 10 day arc)


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