C/2020 H6 ATLAS
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Comet C/2020 H6 was discovered on 22 April 2020, about 1.3 yr before its perihelion passage. This comet was observed until 8 January 2024 (as in February 2025).

Comet had its closest approach to the Earth on 30 April 2021 (3.86 au); about six months before its perihelion passage.

The preferred NG solution ('bd') given here is based on data span over 3.72 yr in a range of heliocentric distances: 6.22 au – 4.70 au (perihelion) – 7.80 au. Orbits based on pre-perihelion and post-perihelion data independently are also presented.

This Oort spike comet suffers moderate planetary perturbations during its passage through the planetary system that lead to a significantly more tight future orbit (semimajor axis of about 2,000 au).
solution description
number of observations 792
data interval 2020 04 22 – 2021 08 23
data arc selection data generally limited to pre-perihelion (PRE)
range of heliocentric distances 6.22 au – 4.71au
type of model of motion NC - non-gravitational orbits for symmetric CO-g(r)-like function
data weighting YES
number of residuals 1561
RMS [arcseconds] 0.32
orbit quality class 1a
previous orbit statistics, both Galactic and stellar perturbations were taken into account
no. of returning VCs in the swarm 0
no. of escaping VCs in the swarm 5002
no. of hyperbolas among escaping VCs in the swarm 4553 *
previous reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] -12.78 – -6.34 – -0.25
previous perihelion distance [au] 24 – 27 – 31
previous aphelion distance [103 au] 390 – 1200 – 7900
time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] 2.36 ± 11.422
percentage of VCs with qprev > 20100
Upper panel: 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.
Middle panel(s): O-C diagram for a given solution (sometimes in comparison to another solution available in CODE), where residuals in right ascension are shown using magenta dots and in declination by blue open circles.
Lowest panel: Relative weights for a given data set(s).
previous_g orbit statistics, here only the Galactic tide has been included
no. of returning VCs in the swarm 0
no. of escaping VCs in the swarm 5002
no. of hyperbolas among escaping VCs in the swarm 4553 *
previous reciprocal semi-major axis [10-6 au-1] -12.77 – -6.34 – -0.25
previous perihelion distance [au] 21 – 24 – 27
previous aphelion distance [103 au] 390 – 1200 – 7900
time interval to previous perihelion [Myr] 2.35 ± 11.422
percentage of VCs with 10 < qprev < 205
percentage of VCs with qprev > 2095