C/2016 C1 PANSTARRS
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Comet C/2016 C1 was discovered on 12 February 2016 with Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (Haleakala), that is a week before its perihelion passage. This comet was observed until 24 May 2020.

Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 5 March 2016 (7.572 au), about 2 weeks after its perihelion passage.

The preferred solution given here is based on data spanning over 4.28 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 8.46 au – 8.46 au (perihelion) – 12.3 au.

This Oort spike comet suffers small planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system; however, these perturbations likely lead to escape the comet from the planetary zone on a hyperbolic orbit (see future barycentric orbits).
solution description
number of observations 234
data interval 2016 02 12 – 2018 05 06
data type significantly more measurements after perihelion (POST+)
data arc selection entire data set (STD)
range of heliocentric distances 8.46 au – 8.46 au (perihelion) – 9.69 au
detectability of NG effects in the comet's motion NG effects not determinable
type of model of motion GR - gravitational orbit
data weighting YES
number of residuals 464
RMS [arcseconds] 0.56
orbit quality class 1a
orbital elements (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
Epoch 2016 02 22
perihelion date 2016 02 16.39163838 ± 0.00316622
perihelion distance [au] 8.45936414 ± 0.00001502
eccentricity 1.00491445 ± 0.00000967
argument of perihelion [°] 328.569874 ± 0.000179
ascending node [°] 181.781050 ± 0.000007
inclination [°] 56.178662 ± 0.00002
reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] -580.95 ± 1.14
Time distribution of positional observations with corresponding heliocentric (red curve) and geocentric (green curve) distance at which they were taken. The horizontal dotted line shows the perihelion distance for a given comet whereas vertical dotted line — the moment of perihelion passage.