C/2007 F1 (LONEOS)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovered by: | Brian A. Skiff |
Discovery date: | 19 March 2007 |
Orbital characteristics A | |
Perihelion distance: | .402376 AU |
Semi-major axis: | -4471.641 AU |
Eccentricity: | 1.000089 |
Orbital period: | n/a |
Comet LONEOS (C/2007 F1) is a hyperbolic comet discovered on March 19, 2007 as part as the Lowell Observatory Near Earth Object Search (LONEOS). The comet reached perihelion, or closest approach to the sun on October 28, 2007.
The comet reached 6th magnitude in October, making it easily visible in binoculars, and just barely visible to the naked eye for observers in the Northern Hemisphere, just after sunset in the west. It reached a max brightness of magnitude 5 around perihelion, before starting to slowly dim on its way out of the solar system. It continued to move south in the sky and became visible to southern hemisphere comet chasers in mid November.