Copyright © 2002 by Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT)
This image is a combination of three images obtained by the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program on 2002 February 4.47, February 4.48, and February 4.49. Each image was exposed for about one minute.
Discovery
Yoshio Kushida and Osamu Muramatsu (Yatsugatake South Base Observatory, Japan) photographically discovered this comet on 1993 December 8.65. They were using the 25-cm f/3.4 reflector. The comet was described as diffuse, about 1-2 arc minutes across, and centrally condensed. The magnitude was estimated as 16.5. They obtained a confirmation photograph on December 9.54, which also indicated a magnitude of 16.5.
Historical Highlights
The first orbit was calculated by S. Nakano. Using positions spanning the period of December 8 to 12, he determined a parabolic orbit with a perihelion date of 1994 November 26.16. The possibility that this might be a short-period comet was also expressed. The short-period nature was confirmed by Nakano on December 16 when he took positions covering the period of December 8-15 and calculated a perihelion date of 1993 November 4.46 and a period of 6.92 years. During the next few weeks, the perihelion date was eventually determined as December 10.25, while the period was 7.40 years.
The comet attained a maximum brightness of magnitude 15 during 1993 December.
During 1998, Nakano took 204 positions spanning the comet's entire 1993-1994 apparition, applied perturbations by Mercury to Neptune, as well as the minor planets Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta, and predicted the comet would next arrive at perihelion on 2001 April 29.55. The comet was recovered on 2000 October 3.72, when T. Oribe (Saji Observatory) obtained CCD images with the 1.03-m reflector. Oribe said the comet's magnitude was 20.2 and the coma was 10 arc seconds across. His precise position indicated Nakano's prediction was only 0.04 day late.
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