C/2022 R2 (ATLAS)

For other comets discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, see Comet ATLAS (disambiguation).

Comet ATLAS, formal designation C/2022 R2, is a non-periodic comet with a very small minimum orbit intersection distance with Earth, only about 0.045 AU (6.7 million km).^[3] This has led to an assessment that it may generate a potential meteor shower with a radiant in the general direction from the constellation Lepus by 22–24 November.^[4]

C/2022 R2 (ATLAS)

Comet ATLAS photographed from the Zwicky Transient Facility on 6 October 2022
Discovery[1][2]
Discovered by	Alan Fitzsimmons
Discovery site	ATLAS–MLO (T08)
Discovery date	14 September 2022
Designations
Alternative designations	CK22R020[2]
Orbital characteristics[3]
Epoch	29 September 2022 (JD 2459851.5)
Observation arc	54 days
Number of observations	295
Aphelion	~845 AU
Perihelion	0.633 AU
Semi-major axis	~423 AU
Eccentricity	0.99850
Orbital period	~8,700 years
Inclination	52.895°
Longitude of ascending node	60.404°
Argument of periapsis	78.377°
Last perihelion	25 October 2022
TJupiter	0.607
Earth MOID	0.045 AU
Jupiter MOID	2.381 AU
Physical characteristics
Comet total magnitude (M1)	16.6
Apparent magnitude	14.24 (2022 apparition)

On 3 October 2022, observations from the Zwicky Transient Facility showed that the comet had experienced a strong outburst, temporarily increasing its apparent magnitude to 14.24, then rapidly faded away afterwards, indicating that the comet had disintegrated.^[5]