Comet Spacewatch–LINEAR, also known as 475P/Spacewatch–LINEAR, is a distant Jupiter-family comet with a roughly 20-year orbit around the Sun. It is one of several comets discovered by the Spacewatch and Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) surveys.
Observational history An apparently asteroid-like object both discovered by Spacewatch and LINEAR in 17 February 2004 was later found to have cometary activity after a 5 arcsecond-wide coma was detected upon review of photographic plates on 16 March 2004. Precovery images as early as 11 February 2004 were known. Observations conducted at the Galileo National Telescope in spring 2005 showed a well-developed coma and long tail even as the comet is well on its outbound trajectory at a distance of from the Sun.
The comet was accidentally recovered from images taken by Pan-STARRS on 25 November 2023, with additional independent observations from the Calar Alto Observatory and Tenerife Observatory were also reported. It later received its official numerical designation (475P) alongside ten other periodic comets on April 2024.
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External links
at the Minor Planet Center database 475P/Spacewatch–LINEAR at Seiichi Yoshida's website