C/2012 L3 (LINEAR)

Metadata

Parameter Value
Designation C/2012 L3 (LINEAR)
Type C
Perihelion (tp_cal, UTC) 2012-06-12T05:16:49.045440Z
Orbit solution date (soln_date, UTC) 2021-04-15T23:32:16Z
Obs used 255
NEO -
M1 8.900
K1 15.250
PC 0.030
Osculating Elements
Parameter Value
Epoch (epoch_cal, TDB) 2012-07-18.0000000
e 0.99079164
q (au) 3.045029
a (au) 330.681042
i (deg) 134.196647
Ω (om, deg) 53.489782
ω (w, deg) 107.093418
M (ma, deg) 0.005864

Magnitude

C/2012 L3 (LINEAR) · Magnitude (Full range)

Scatter + Global Linear

$$ M_a = (10.623 + 6.000\cdot 2.5\log_{10} r) + \epsilon - 2.5\log_{10}\Phi(\theta) + 5\log_{10}\Delta $$ $$ \theta = 180^\circ - \alpha $$ $$ \Phi(\theta) = \frac{\delta_{90} D(\theta) + 1}{\delta_{90} + 1},\quad D(\theta) = k\cdot \Phi_{HG}(\theta; g_f) + (1-k)\cdot \Phi_{HG}(\theta; g_b) $$ $$ \Phi_{HG}(\theta; g) = \left(\frac{1+g^2}{1+g^2-2g\cos\theta}\right)^{3/2},\quad \Phi_{HG}(90^\circ)=1 $$

Model Parameters

Parameter Value
H0 10.623
n 6.000
gf 1.000
gb -0.692
k 0.800
δ90 10.000
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
2012-06-12 2013-05-08 +8.7931 -4.384

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

Ephemeris

Date/Time (UTC) RA (J2000) Dec (J2000) Nearest HIP Dist from HIP (arcmin)
2026-09-20 00:00 10:11:52.92 -33:47:52.6 HIP 49979 8.22
2026-09-20 12:00 10:11:56.38 -33:48:23.3 HIP 49979 7.40
2026-09-21 00:00 10:11:59.82 -33:48:54.3 HIP 49979 6.59
2026-09-21 12:00 10:12:03.25 -33:49:25.6 HIP 49979 5.81
2026-09-22 00:00 10:12:06.66 -33:49:57.1 HIP 49979 5.05
2026-09-22 12:00 10:12:10.05 -33:50:28.8 HIP 49979 4.33
2026-09-23 00:00 10:12:13.43 -33:51:00.8 HIP 49979 3.69
2026-09-23 12:00 10:12:16.79 -33:51:33.0 HIP 49979 3.16
2026-09-24 00:00 10:12:20.13 -33:52:05.4 HIP 49979 2.80
2026-09-24 12:00 10:12:23.45 -33:52:38.1 HIP 49979 2.69
2026-09-25 00:00 10:12:26.75 -33:53:11.0 HIP 49979 2.85
2026-09-25 12:00 10:12:30.04 -33:53:44.2 HIP 49979 3.25
2026-09-26 00:00 10:12:33.31 -33:54:17.5 HIP 49979 3.80
2026-09-26 12:00 10:12:36.56 -33:54:51.1 HIP 49979 4.46
2026-09-27 00:00 10:12:39.79 -33:55:25.0 HIP 49979 5.18
2026-09-27 12:00 10:12:43.00 -33:55:59.0 HIP 49979 5.94
2026-09-28 00:00 10:12:46.20 -33:56:33.2 HIP 49979 6.72
2026-09-28 12:00 10:12:49.37 -33:57:07.7 HIP 49979 7.52
2026-09-29 00:00 10:12:52.52 -33:57:42.4 HIP 49979 8.33
2026-09-29 12:00 10:12:55.65 -33:58:17.3 HIP 49979 9.15
2026-09-30 00:00 10:12:58.77 -33:58:52.4 HIP 49979 9.98
2026-09-30 12:00 10:13:01.86 -33:59:27.7 HIP 49979 10.81
2026-10-01 00:00 10:13:04.93 -34:00:03.3 HIP 49979 11.65
2026-10-01 12:00 10:13:07.98 -34:00:39.0 HIP 49979 12.49
2026-10-02 00:00 10:13:11.01 -34:01:15.0 HIP 49979 13.32
2026-10-02 12:00 10:13:14.01 -34:01:51.1 HIP 49979 14.16
2026-10-03 00:00 10:13:17.00 -34:02:27.4 HIP 49979 15.01
2026-10-03 12:00 10:13:19.96 -34:03:04.0 HIP 49979 15.85
2026-10-04 00:00 10:13:22.90 -34:03:40.7 HIP 49979 16.69
2026-10-04 12:00 10:13:25.82 -34:04:17.6 HIP 49979 17.53
2026-10-05 00:00 10:13:28.71 -34:04:54.7 HIP 49979 18.37
2026-10-05 12:00 10:13:31.58 -34:05:32.0 HIP 49979 19.21
2026-10-06 00:00 10:13:34.43 -34:06:09.5 HIP 49979 20.05
2026-10-06 12:00 10:13:37.26 -34:06:47.2 HIP 49979 20.89
2026-10-07 00:00 10:13:40.06 -34:07:25.1 HIP 49979 21.73
2026-10-07 12:00 10:13:42.83 -34:08:03.1 HIP 49979 22.57
2026-10-08 00:00 10:13:45.59 -34:08:41.3 HIP 49979 23.40
2026-10-08 12:00 10:13:48.31 -34:09:19.7 HIP 49979 24.24
2026-10-09 00:00 10:13:51.01 -34:09:58.2 HIP 49979 25.07
2026-10-09 12:00 10:13:53.69 -34:10:36.9 HIP 49979 25.90
2026-10-10 00:00 10:13:56.34 -34:11:15.8 HIP 49979 26.74
2026-10-10 12:00 10:13:58.97 -34:11:54.8 HIP 49979 27.56
2026-10-11 00:00 10:14:01.57 -34:12:34.0 HIP 49979 28.39