C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS)

C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS) is a comet, discovered using the Pan-STARRS telescopes on September 7, 2016. The comet attracted attention from many astronomers as it approached its closest point to the sun in May 2018.[3] It has been observed to have a very complex tail, which has been suggested to be due to a fast rotation period of the nucleus.

C/2016 R2

The comet on 16 January 2018
Discovery [1]
Discovered by	Pan-STARRS
Discovery site	Haleakala Obs.
Discovery date	30 August 2016
Designations
MPC designation	C/2016 R2
Minor planet category	comet
Orbital characteristics [2]
Epoch 13 October 2018
Observation arc	774 days
Perihelion	2.60235 AU
Eccentricity	0.99646
Mean anomaly	359.9932°
Inclination	58.222°
Longitude of ascending node	80.5685°
Argument of perihelion	33.1930°
Earth MOID	1.72 AU
Physical characteristics
Absolute magnitude (H)	8[2]

The comet orbits the Sun on a 20,000 year orbit, which takes it out about 740 AU (Sun-Earth distances).[4] It was found to differ from typical comets, and was found to be rich in Carbon monoxide (CO) with a blue coma.[4] The blue color is thought to come from the rich amounts of carbon monoxide being ionized.[5] The comet was also noted to be rich in nitrogen.[6]

The comet was observed by a submillimeter wavelength telescope in the late 2010s.[4]

The comet made its closest approach to the Sun in May 2018, and its blue, teal, and dust tail were noted as an astronomical target.[5] Blue comets are a less common type of comet.[6]