C/2012 L2 (LINEAR)

For other comets of the same name, see List of comets discovered by the LINEAR project.

C/2012 L2 (LINEAR) is a non-periodic comet that was discovered on 1 June 2012 by LINEAR. Preliminary calculations of its orbit by Maik Meyer noted a striking similarity with that of C/1785 A1 (Messier–Mechain),^[3] however it is purely a coincidence rather than the return of the latter comet.^[4] It passed perihelion in May 2013.

C/2012 L2 (LINEAR)

The comet on 18 February 2013 by the Palomar Transient Factory
Discovery[1]
Discovered by	LINEAR
Discovery site	Socorro, New Mexico
Discovery date	1 June 2012
Designations
Alternative designations	CK12L020[1]
Orbital characteristics[2]
Observation arc	338 days
Number of observations	2,119
Aphelion	~1,130 AU
Perihelion	1.509 AU
Semi-major axis	565.74 AU
Eccentricity	0.99733
Orbital period	~13,460 years
Inclination	70.981°
Longitude of ascending node	270.302°
Argument of periapsis	205.786°
Last perihelion	9 May 2013
TJupiter	0.505
Earth MOID	0.584 AU
Jupiter MOID	3.248 AU
Physical characteristics
Comet total magnitude (M1)	11.3
Apparent magnitude	10.0 (2013 apparition

Discovery and observations

The comet was discovered as a 19.4-magnitude object from photographs taken by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research survey on the morning of 1 June 2012.^[5] Five days after discovery, Maik Meyer noted that the preliminary orbit of this comet was initially similar to that of C/1785 A1, however he later concluded that these comets were unrelated from one another.^[3] Its aphelion distance suggested it may have been a dynamically new object that originated from the inner regions of the Oort cloud, therefore imaging polarimetry of the comet was conducted to further study the composition of these objects.^[6]