_on_1_May_from_Indonesia.jpg) Comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) on May 1, 2020 from Indonesia | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | SOHO–SWAN Michael Mattiazzo |
| Discovery date | 25 March 2020[1] |
| Designations | |
| SOHO-3932[2] | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 2020-Apr-26 (JD 2458965.5) |
| Observation arc | 42 days |
| Orbit type | Oort cloud |
| Aphelion | ~1300AU (outbound) |
| Perihelion | 0.4303 AU (64 million km) |
| Eccentricity | 0.99994 |
| Orbital period | Hyperbolic trajectory (inbound) ~17000 years (outbound) |
| Inclination | 110.8 |
| Last perihelion | 27 May 2020 |
| EarthMOID | 0.1937 AU (29 million km; 75 LD) |
| JupiterMOID | 2.35 AU |
| Physical characteristics[3] | |
| Dimensions | 0.4–0.8 km (0.25–0.50 mi) |
Mean diameter | 0.6 km (0.37 mi) |
| 4.7 (2020 apparition) | |
C/2020 F8 (SWAN), orComet SWAN, is anOort cloudcomet that was discovered in images taken by the Solar Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) camera on 25 March 2020, aboard theSolar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft.[4][1] In the glare oftwilight, Comet SWAN is difficult to find with50mm binoculars even though it is still near the theoretical range of naked eye visibility. The comet has dimmed since May 3.[5] As of perihelion, the comet is very diffuse, does not have a visiblenucleus and is not a comet that will be noticed by inexperienced observers. It is likely that the comet disintegrated.
On April 28, 2020 it had anapparent magnitude of 7 and was too diffuse to be visible to the naked eye even from a dark site.[5] The comet was also hidden by the glare oftwilight,zodiacal light andatmospheric extinction. It was originally best seen from theSouthern Hemisphere. It was expected to possibly reach 3rd magnitude in May, but instead hovered closer to magnitude 6.[6] In either case it was near the glare of twilight, which made it appear significantly fainter.[6] On May 2, the comet had reached a magnitude of 4.7 and had been detected withnaked eye,[7] the tail had a visual length of one degree and could be traced photographically for 6-8 degrees.[8] After that the comet faded, probably as the nucleus of the comet fragmented.[9][10] It passed through thecelestial equator on 7 May, then it headed northward and it was near the 2nd magnitude starAlgol on 20 May.[1] It passed its perihelion on May 27, 2020.
TheMinor Planet Center initially listed the orbit as bound with.[4] With a short 18-dayobservation arcJPL listed the comet ashyperbolic with an eccentricity of1.0009±0.001, but a longer observation arc was needed to refine the uncertainties and either confirm its hyperbolic trajectory, or determine its orbital period of thousands or millions of years.[11] With a 40-day observation arc it was possible to determine that it came from theOort cloud on aHyperbolic trajectory and that the outbound orbit will last ~11,000 years.
On May 12, 2020, the comet passed about 0.56 AU (84 million km; 220 LD) from Earth. On May 27, 2020 the comet came toperihelion 0.43 AU (64 million km) from the Sun.[4]
![Photo taken on May 2, 2020[12]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSWAN_2-5-2020.jpg)
2020 in space | ||
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| Space probe launches  |
|   _on_Jul_14_2020_aligned_to_stars.jpg) |
| Impact events | ||
| Selected NEOs | ||
| Exoplanets |
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| Discoveries |
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| Comets | ||
| Space exploration |
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