C/2012 J1 (Catalina)

For other comets of the same name, see List of comets discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey.

C/2012 J1 (Catalina) is a distant hyperbolic comet that only came within 3.16 AU (473 million km) from the Sun during its perihelion in December 2012. It is one of several comets discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey.

C/2012 J1 (Catalina)

Discovery[1]
Discovered by	Catalina Sky Survey Alex R. Gibbs
Discovery site	Steward Observatory
Discovery date	14 May 2012
Orbital characteristics[2]
Observation arc	1.85 years
Number of observations	4,401
Perihelion	3.159 AU
Eccentricity	1.00133
Inclination	34.186°
Longitude of ascending node	235.22°
Argument of periapsis	147.27°
Last perihelion	7 December 2012
TJupiter	1.824
Earth MOID	2.219 AU
Jupiter MOID	1.382 AU
Physical characteristics[3]
Mean diameter	6.6 km (4.1 mi)
Comet total magnitude (M1)	7.2
Comet nuclear magnitude (M2)	10.5