246P/NEAT

{{short description|Periodic comet}}

{{For|other comets discovered by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking survey|Comet NEAT (disambiguation)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox comet

| name = 246P/NEAT

| image = 246P 2021-06-08 image ZTF-sso-236-zr-fov-9.3arcmin.png

| caption = 246P/NEAT as imaged by the Zwicky Transient Facility on 8 June 2021

| discovery_ref = {{r|IAUC_8313}}

| discoverer = Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT)

| discovery_site = Haleakala Observatory

| discovery_date = 28 March 2004

| mpc_name = P/2004 F3, P/2010 V2

| orbit_ref = {{r|jpldata|MPC}}

| epoch = 17 October 2024 (JD 2460600.5)

| observation_arc = 22.92 years

| earliest_precovery_date = 6 January 2002

| obs = 5,007

| perihelion = 3.164 AU

| aphelion = 5.245 AU

| semimajor = 4.204 AU

| eccentricity = 0.28504

| period = 8.62 years

| inclination = 17.751°

| asc_node = 74.231°

| arg_peri = 185.43°

| mean = 156.59°

| tjup = 2.913

| Earth_moid = 1.865 AU

| Jupiter_moid = 0.096 AU

| M1 = 5.9

| M2 = 11.3

| last_p = 16 February 2021

| next_p = 28 October 2029{{r|Horizons2029}}

}}

246P/NEAT is a periodic comet discovered on 2004 March 28 by Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) using the {{cvt|1.2|m|in}} reflector at Haleakala.{{r|IAUC_8313}} It was given the permanent number 246P on 14 January 2011.{{r|IAUC_9192}}

Orbit

It is a Quasi-Hilda comet.{{r|Toth_2006}} Due to perturbations by Jupiter, the 2005, 2013 and 2021 perihelion passages will be closer to the Sun.{{r|Yoshida-246p}} The comet is observable all through its orbit.{{r|Yoshida-246p}}

References

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite journal

| author1= F. Hormuth

| author2= J. Ticha

| author3= M. Tichy

| author4= P. Kusnirak

| author5= B. L. Stevens

| author6= J. Young

| author7= G. Hug

| display-authors= 4

| editor1= D. W. Green

| title= Comet P/2004 F3 (NEAT)

| url= http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/08300/08313.html

| journal= IAU Circular

| volume= 8313

| issue= 2

| date= 29 March 2004

| bibcode= 2012IAUC.8313....2H }}

{{cite journal

| author1= D. W. Green

| title= Comet 246P/NEAT

| url= http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/09100/09192.html

| journal= IAU Circular

| volume= 9192

| issue= 2

| date= 14 January 2011

| bibcode= 2011IAUC.9192....2G }}

{{cite web

| title= 246P/NEAT – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup

| url= https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=246P

| website= ssd.jpl.nasa.gov

| publisher= Jet Propulsion Laboratory

| access-date= 31 July 2012 }}

{{cite web

| title= 246P/NEAT Orbit

| url= http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=246P

| publisher= Minor Planet Center

| access-date= 20 June 2014 }}

{{cite journal

| author1= I. Toth

| title= The quasi-Hilda subgroup of ecliptic comets - an update

| journal= Astronomy and Astrophysics

| year= 2006

| volume= 448

| issue= 3

| pages= 1191–1196

| bibcode= 2006A&A...448.1191T

| doi= 10.1051/0004-6361:20053492

| doi-access= free }}

{{cite web

| author1= S. Yoshida

| title= 246P/NEAT

| url= http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0246P/index.html

| website= www.aerith.net

| date= 13 November 2010

| access-date= 31 July 2012 }}

{{cite web

|title=Horizons Batch for 246P/NEAT on 2029-Oct-28

|publisher=JPL Horizons

|type=Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive

|url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons_batch.cgi?batch=1&COMMAND=%27246P%27&START_TIME=%272029-Oct-21%27&STOP_TIME=%272029-Nov-03%27&STEP_SIZE=%273%20hours%27&QUANTITIES=%2719%27

|accessdate=2021-09-17}} (JPL#212/Soln.date: 2021-Sep-04)

}}