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C/2002 U2

C/2002 U2 (LINEAR)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not currently visible. Last report 8601 days ago at mag 37.8. Historic peak was mag 14.0. Typical backyard telescopes will not show it. HST, JWST, or an 8–10 m class telescope might recover it with a good ephemeris.

Active comet in COBS

JSONCSV

Right ascension

—

J2000

Declination

—

J2000

Estimated magnitude

37.8

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

20

Arc unknown

Last observation

8601d ago

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 15:21:36 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2003-01-03

1.180 au

Peak window

2002-12-18 → 2003-01-06

COBS peak mag 14.0 on 2002-12-21 · perihelion 2003-01-03. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

14.0

COBS / analyzed peak 2002-12-21

Catalog ingest

14h ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-11-06 14:20:19 UTC

Light curve

Brightness over time (V mag)

Gold = reported observations. Steel dashed family = ensemble (nominal / outburst / fade / disruption).

Tail length

Converted to degrees from COBS (d / arcmin / arcsec). Empty until analysis has pulled the archive.

Ensemble is a first-pass H0/n photometric model plus observed samples — not a trained ML forecast yet. The background analyzer walks the catalog one object at a time so COBS is not flooded. Disruption track rises after perihelion to stand in for solar-wind stripping.

Orbital elements

q

1.180 au

e

0.9990

i

59.30°

Ω

39.30°

ω

95.30°

a

—

MOID

—

H

—

H0 / n

—

NEO score

—

PHA score

—

RMS

—

Elongation

—

Reporting sources

  • COBS comet list

    ok

    Comet Observation Database magnitudes and perihelion data for the full COBS list (active and inactive).

Name history

  • C/2002 U2 (LINEAR)

    Informal: LINEAR

    C/2002 U2 · 2026-09-14 18:27:55 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • LINEAR

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-14 18:27:55 UTC → current

Contributors

Pips are observation weight on this object (log of report count). Hover for catalog-wide weight.