C/2013 N4 (Borisov)

For other comets of the same name, see List of comets discovered by Gennadiy Borisov.

C/2013 N4 (Borisov) is a long-period comet that was observed between July 2013 and April 2014. It was the first comet ever discovered by Ukrainian astronomer, Gennadiy Borisov.^[3]

C/2013 N4 (Borisov)

Discovery[1]
Discovered by	Gennadiy Borisov
Discovery site	Crimea, Ukraine
Discovery date	8 July 2013
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch	15 September 2013 (JD 2456550.5)
Observation arc	296 days
Number of observations	287
Aphelion	94.864 AU
Perihelion	1.210 AU
Semi-major axis	48.037 AU
Eccentricity	0.97480
Orbital period	332.95 years
Inclination	37.035°
Longitude of ascending node	322.61°
Argument of periapsis	142.28°
Mean anomaly	0.072°
Last perihelion	21 August 2013
Next perihelion	~2340s
TJupiter	1.190
Earth MOID	0.320 AU
Jupiter MOID	1.099 AU
Comet total magnitude (M1)	12.1

Observational history

During a joint Russian–Ukrainian star party held on Crimea on 8 July 2013, Gennadiy Borisov discovered a new comet using his 8 in (20 cm) telescope, which at the time it was a 17th-magnitude object near the star Capella.^[3] Follow-up observations conducted by Artyom Novichonok, Alan Hale, and others confirmed the existence of this comet, later announcing Borisov's discovery on 13 July 2013.^[1][4]

While it was about 2.59 AU (387 million km) from the Sun in February 2014, the NEOWISE telescope observed the comet in infrared light, where it determined that it emitted carbon dioxide gas at a rate of (3.01±0.17)×10²⁶ molecules/s^-1.^[5]