C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)
Parabolic comet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Comet ATLAS, provisional designation C/2019 L3, is a distant non-periodic comet that reached perihelion at a distance of 3.55 AU (531 million km) in January 2022. It is one of many comets discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovery site | ATLAS–HKO (T05) |
| Discovery date | 10 June 2019 |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch | 10 October 2021 (JD 2459497.5) |
| Observation arc | 5.97 years |
| Number of observations | 6,499 |
| Perihelion | 3.554 AU |
| Eccentricity | 1.00141 |
| Inclination | 48.364° |
| 290.79° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 171.61° |
| Mean anomaly | –0.007° |
| Last perihelion | 9 January 2022 |
| TJupiter | 1.553 |
| Earth MOID | 2.576 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 1.654 AU |
| Physical characteristics[2] | |
Mean radius | 7.9 km (4.9 mi)[3] |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 5.5 |
| 8.4 (2022 apparition)[5] | |
Physical characteristics
Narrowband observations conducted at the TRAPPIST-North survey in January 2022 revealed that C/2019 L3 appears to be a very dusty comet, with a high dust-to-gas ratio relative to other comets.[6] Data analysis in 2024 concluded that activity within the comet may have begun while it was at least 13 AU (1.9 billion km) from the Sun, indicating the possibility that the comet could remain active until at least the second half of 2026.[3]
The nucleus of the comet is estimated to have a minimum radius of around 7.9 km (4.9 mi).[3]
