P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS)
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P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS) imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in April 2020 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | ATLAS-MLO |
| Discovery site | Mauna Loa Obs. |
| Discovery date | 10 June 2019 (first observed) |
| Designations | |
| 2019 LD2 | |
| Jupiter-family comet periodic centaur | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 27 July 2019 (JD 2458691.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 4 | |
| Observation arc | 2.00 yr (729 d) |
| Earliest precovery date | 21 May 2018 |
| Aphelion | 6.0774 AU |
| Perihelion | 4.5784 AU |
| 5.3279 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.14068 |
| 12.3 yr | |
| 339.529° | |
| 0° 4m 48.518s / day | |
| Inclination | 11.517° |
| 180.217° | |
| 122.688° | |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.0334843 AU |
| TJupiter | 2.940 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| < 2.4 kilometers | |
| 19.0 | |
| 12.20±0.83 (M1=6.9±0.8) 12.1 | |
P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS) is a Jupiter-family comet discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System on 10 June 2019. It was initially reported as the first known Jupiter trojan asteroid to display cometary activity, but its classification as a Jupiter trojan was retracted after closer examination and a longer observation arc revealed its orbit to be unstable like a typical Jupiter family comet and implied that its position near the trojans is temporary.