C/2020 F5 (MASTER)
Non-periodic comet
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C/2020 F5 (MASTER) is a non-periodic comet discovered on 28 March 2020,[3] by the MASTER auto-detection system near San Juan, Argentina.
Discoverydate28 March 2020
Observation arc1,663 days (4.55 years)
Comet MASTER photographed from the Zwicky Transient Facility on 27 September 2021 | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | MASTER |
| Discovery date | 28 March 2020 |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch | 27 March 2022 (JD 2459665.5) |
| Observation arc | 1,663 days (4.55 years) |
| Earliest precovery date | 16 March 2020 |
| Number of observations | 1,861 |
| Aphelion | ~1,760 AU |
| Perihelion | 4.325 AU |
| Semi-major axis | ~880 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.99509 |
| Orbital period | ~36,000 years (inbound) ~1,800 years (outbound) |
| Inclination | 52.257° |
| 350.53° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 310.99° |
| Mean anomaly | 0.0139° |
| Last perihelion | 23 March 2021 |
| TJupiter | 1.582 |
| Earth MOID | 3.515 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.162 AU |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 7.2 |
| Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 9.7 |
When first discovered there were dubious claims that it might be an interstellar object,[4] but now it is known to have a weakly near-parabolic eccentricity of just 0.99509.[2] Before planetary perturbations the comet had an orbital period of about 36,000 years.
