C/2007 N3 (Lulin)
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Comet Lulin as seen on January 31st (top) and February 4th of 2009. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Ye Quanzhi Lin Chi-Sheng |
| Discovery site | Lulin Observatory (D35) 0.41-m Ritchey–Chrétien |
| Discovery date | 11 July 2007 |
| Designations | |
| Comet Lulin CK07N030 | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 6 December 2008 (JD 2454806.5) |
| Aphelion | ~64,000 AU (inbound) ~2,400 AU (outbound) |
| Perihelion | 1.212 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 1200 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.99998 |
| Orbital period | 42,000 years (outbound) |
| Inclination | 178.37° |
| 338.54° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 136.86° |
| Last perihelion | 10 January 2009 |
| TJupiter | –1.365 |
| Earth MOID | 0.211 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.101 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean radius | 6.10±0.25 km |
| 41.45±0.05 hours | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 10.2 |
| 4.5–5.0 (2009 apparition) | |
Comet Lulin, formal designation C/2007 N3, (Traditional Chinese:鹿林彗星) is a non-periodic comet. It was discovered by Ye Quanzhi and Lin Chi-Sheng from Lulin Observatory. It peaked in brightness at magnitude between +4.5 and +5, becoming visible to the naked eye, and arrived at perigee for observers on Earth on February 24, 2009, and at 0.411 AU (61.5 million km; 38.2 million mi) from Earth.