C/2002 T7 (LINEAR)

C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) is a non-periodic comet discovered in 2002 by LINEAR project. The comet brightened to a magnitude of 2.2.[2]

C/2002 T7 (LINEAR)
C/2002 T7 on 27 April 2004 by the Advanced Observing Program of Kitt Peak Visitor Center
Discovery
Discovered byLINEAR
Discovery date14 October 2002
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch2003-Nov-16.0
Observation arc1.242 days
Earliest precovery date12 October 2002
Perihelion0.614 AU
Eccentricity1.000487
Inclination160.58°
94.86°
Argument of
periapsis		157.74°
Last perihelion23 April 2004
Earth MOID0.255 AU
Jupiter MOID0.58 AU
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		7.6 [1]

History

The LINEAR project announced the discovery of this object on October 14, 2002. At that time, comet had a magnitude of 17.5. Before the end of the month, several observatories obtained follow-up observations. On October 29, IAU Circular No. 8003 announced this object to be a comet. Prediscovery observations were found on LINEAR images from October 12.[3] At the time of discovery the comet was 6.9 AU from the Sun.[4] The comet is considered to be dynamically new object from the Oort Cloud and that was the first time it came closer to Sun than Jupiter.[4]

The comet brightened until mid February 2004, when the comet stayed to a magnitude of 7 until early March, when it entered the twilight and it couldn't be easily observed. It passed from a minimum solar elongation of 9° in late March. The comet was observed again on April 9 in twilight, when it had a magnitude of 4.6. The comet passed its perihelion on April 23 but it continued to brighten as it was approaching Earth. The closest approach was on 19 May 2004, when the comet had an estimated magnitude of 2.5 to 3.[3] The comet was visible in the sky along with the equally bright comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT).[2]

On 30 April 2004, the comet was imaged and studied using the remote-sensing devices on the Rosetta spacecraft. The coma and tail were measured in wavelengths ranging from the ultraviolet to microwave. This occurred from a distance of about 95 million kilometres. The presence of water molecules around the comet was successfully identified.[5]

References
  1. "Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  2. "Brightest comets seen since 1935". www.icq.eps.harvard.edu. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  3. Kronk, Gary. "C/2002 T7 (LINEAR)". cometography.com. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  4. Królikowska, M.; Dybczyński, P. A.; Sitarski, G. (August 2012). "Different dynamical histories for comets C/2001 Q4 and C/2002 T7?". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 544: A119. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201219408.
  5. "Rosetta's Scientific First - Observation of Comet Linear". European Space Agency. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
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