C/2009 O2 (Catalina)

Metadata

Parameter Value
Designation C/2009 O2 (Catalina)
Type C
Perihelion (tp_cal, UTC) 2010-03-24T09:57:09.682560Z
Orbit solution date (soln_date, UTC) 2021-04-15T23:31:31Z
Obs used 281
NEO -
M1 12.900
K1 7.500
PC -
Osculating Elements
Parameter Value
Epoch (epoch_cal, TDB) 2009-10-31.0000000
e 0.99749905
q (au) 0.695547
a (au) 278.112822
i (deg) 107.960453
Ω (om, deg) 310.232085
ω (w, deg) 133.397136
M (ma, deg) 359.969311

Magnitude

C/2009 O2 (Catalina) · Magnitude (Full range)

Scatter + Global Linear

$$ M_a = (14.631 + 3.055\cdot 2.5\log_{10} r) + \epsilon - 2.5\log_{10}\Phi(\theta) + 5\log_{10}\Delta $$ $$ \theta = 180^\circ - \alpha $$ $$ \Phi(\theta) = \frac{\delta_{90} D(\theta) + 1}{\delta_{90} + 1},\quad D(\theta) = k\cdot \Phi_{HG}(\theta; g_f) + (1-k)\cdot \Phi_{HG}(\theta; g_b) $$ $$ \Phi_{HG}(\theta; g) = \left(\frac{1+g^2}{1+g^2-2g\cos\theta}\right)^{3/2},\quad \Phi_{HG}(90^\circ)=1 $$

Model Parameters

Parameter Value
H0 14.631
n 3.055
gf 0.800
gb -0.619
k 0.800
δ90 9.999
Parameter Symbol Range Description
Absolute magnitude at 1 AU from Sun and Earth H0 -5 to 20 Intrinsic brightness of the comet
Photometric slope parameter n 2 to 6 Rate of brightness change with heliocentric distance
Forward scattering asymmetry factor gf 0.8 to 1 Degree of forward scattering
Backward scattering asymmetry factor gb -1 to -0.5 Degree of backward scattering
Partitioning coefficient k 0.8 to 1 Ratio between forward/backward scattering contributions
Dust-to-gas brightness ratio δ90 1 to 10 Relative contribution of dust scattering to gas emission

Reference: EPSC-DPS2025-160

Residuals (Piecewise)

$$\epsilon = a \log_{10} r_{\mathrm{au}} + b$$

Start (UTC) End (UTC) a b
2009-03-10 2009-07-30 -77.4381 +43.845
2009-07-30 2009-12-03 +12.4136 -6.726
2009-12-03 2010-03-24 -7.2272 -1.412
2010-03-26 2010-04-16 -88.5728 -12.010

log10 r = log10(heliocentric distance / AU), Δ = geocentric distance (AU)

Ephemeris

Date/Time (UTC) RA (J2000) Dec (J2000) Nearest HIP Dist from HIP (arcmin)
2026-05-12 00:00 01:19:59.23 -56:06:23.8 HIP 6345 12.83
2026-05-12 12:00 01:20:03.91 -56:06:38.6 HIP 6345 12.15
2026-05-13 00:00 01:20:08.56 -56:06:53.8 HIP 6345 11.48
2026-05-13 12:00 01:20:13.19 -56:07:09.3 HIP 6345 10.81
2026-05-14 00:00 01:20:17.79 -56:07:25.2 HIP 6345 10.15
2026-05-14 12:00 01:20:22.38 -56:07:41.5 HIP 6345 9.50
2026-05-15 00:00 01:20:26.94 -56:07:58.1 HIP 6345 8.85
2026-05-15 12:00 01:20:31.48 -56:08:15.0 HIP 6345 8.22
2026-05-16 00:00 01:20:35.99 -56:08:32.4 HIP 6345 7.60
2026-05-16 12:00 01:20:40.48 -56:08:50.0 HIP 6345 7.00
2026-05-17 00:00 01:20:44.94 -56:09:08.1 HIP 6345 6.43
2026-05-17 12:00 01:20:49.38 -56:09:26.5 HIP 6345 5.88
2026-05-18 00:00 01:20:53.80 -56:09:45.2 HIP 6345 5.37
2026-05-18 12:00 01:20:58.18 -56:10:04.3 HIP 6345 4.91
2026-05-19 00:00 01:21:02.55 -56:10:23.7 HIP 6345 4.51
2026-05-19 12:00 01:21:06.88 -56:10:43.5 HIP 6345 4.20
2026-05-20 00:00 01:21:11.19 -56:11:03.7 HIP 6345 3.99
2026-05-20 12:00 01:21:15.48 -56:11:24.2 HIP 6345 3.90
2026-05-21 00:00 01:21:19.73 -56:11:45.0 HIP 6345 3.93
2026-05-21 12:00 01:21:23.96 -56:12:06.2 HIP 6345 4.09
2026-05-22 00:00 01:21:28.16 -56:12:27.7 HIP 6345 4.36
2026-05-22 12:00 01:21:32.34 -56:12:49.5 HIP 6345 4.72
2026-05-23 00:00 01:21:36.48 -56:13:11.7 HIP 6345 5.15
2026-05-23 12:00 01:21:40.60 -56:13:34.2 HIP 6345 5.64
2026-05-24 00:00 01:21:44.68 -56:13:57.1 HIP 6345 6.17
2026-05-24 12:00 01:21:48.74 -56:14:20.3 HIP 6345 6.72
2026-05-25 00:00 01:21:52.77 -56:14:43.8 HIP 6345 7.31
2026-05-25 12:00 01:21:56.77 -56:15:07.6 HIP 6345 7.91
2026-05-26 00:00 01:22:00.74 -56:15:31.8 HIP 6345 8.53
2026-05-26 12:00 01:22:04.68 -56:15:56.3 HIP 6345 9.16
2026-05-27 00:00 01:22:08.59 -56:16:21.1 HIP 6345 9.80
2026-05-27 12:00 01:22:12.47 -56:16:46.3 HIP 6345 10.44
2026-05-28 00:00 01:22:16.32 -56:17:11.7 HIP 6345 11.10
2026-05-28 12:00 01:22:20.13 -56:17:37.5 HIP 6345 11.75
2026-05-29 00:00 01:22:23.92 -56:18:03.6 HIP 6345 12.42
2026-05-29 12:00 01:22:27.67 -56:18:30.1 HIP 6345 13.08
2026-05-30 00:00 01:22:31.39 -56:18:56.8 HIP 6345 13.75
2026-05-30 12:00 01:22:35.08 -56:19:23.8 HIP 6345 14.42
2026-05-31 00:00 01:22:38.74 -56:19:51.2 HIP 6345 15.09
2026-05-31 12:00 01:22:42.36 -56:20:18.9 HIP 6345 15.77
2026-06-01 00:00 01:22:45.96 -56:20:46.8 HIP 6345 16.45
2026-06-01 12:00 01:22:49.51 -56:21:15.1 HIP 6345 17.12
2026-06-02 00:00 01:22:53.04 -56:21:43.7 HIP 6345 17.80