 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Takao Kobayashi |
| Discovery date | January 30, 1997 |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch | 2450520.5 (March 13, 1997) |
| Aphelion | 15.121 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.055 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 8.588AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.761 |
| Orbital period | 25.17a |
| Inclination | 12.36° |
| Last perihelion | March 2, 1997 |
| Next perihelion | March 25, 2022 |
440P/Kobayashi is aperiodic comet in theSolar System, discovered by the Japanese amateur astronomerTakao Kobayashi on January 30, 1997. It was the first comet to be discovered by an amateur astronomer with the use ofCCD.
On January 30 and January 31, 1997,Takao Kobayashi observed an object,P/1997 B1 (Kobayashi), which was initially thought to be a minor planet and was reported to theIAU as such byS. Nakano. Over the next few days, the object was observed to be in acometaryorbit.W. Offutt later showed it to be a comet.[2]For discovery of a comet with CCD, as well as the faintest discovery, Kobayashi ranks the first among amateur astronomers. It demonstrates that amateur astronomers still have an important role to play in the field of astronomical object discovery.[3]
The comet was recovered on January 11, 2022, by thePurple Mountain Observatory. The comet was also spotted in images by Kitt Peak-Bok from November 29, 2021, and Pan STARRS from November 2021 and January 2022. In the latter the comet exhibited a very condensed coma and a tail measuring two arcseconds in length. It acquired the provisional designation P/2021 W2.[4] Its last observation used was on February 22, 2022.
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