160P/LINEAR is a Jupiter-family comet with a roughly 7.35-year orbit around the Sun. It is one of many comets discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey.
Observational history It was first detected as a faint 19th-magnitude asteroid-like object from LINEAR observations in 15 July 2004. Calculations of its orbit has informed the Minor Planet Center that the object, formerly labeled as , is a possible new comet. Robert H. McNaught confirmed its cometary nature after detecting some weak activity on 6 September 2004.
The comet later received its official numerical designation (160P) after Maik Meyer confirmed its precovery photographic plates taken by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) survey in 1996. It was subsequently re-observed in its next two apparitions in 2012 and 2019 respectively.
Physical characteristics In 2006, observations from the Isaac Newton Telescope while it was approximately away from the Sun revealed that its nucleus has an effective radius of roughly . However, the presence of a background galaxy at the time prevented direct measurements of the chemical composition of its surrounding coma.
Orbit
Notes
References
External links
at the Minor Planet Center database 160P/LINEAR at Gideon van Buitenen's website 160P/LINEAR at Seiichi Yoshida's website