Ordinary Oort Cloud Comets: An Update on the Past and Future Orbital Evolution of C/2018 F4 (PANSTARRS)
Abstract
Objects that follow hyperbolic paths may have an interstellar origin or an indigenous one. Robust examples of extrasolar visitors are 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua) and 2I/Borisov; present-day, locally produced hyperbolic objects exist, but their properties could be different from those that escaped from an exoplanetary system. Here, we revisit the past and future orbital evolution of comet C/2018 F4 (PANSTARRS) using an improved orbit determination to understand its origin better. Our calculations show that the probability of C/2018 F4 being hyperbolic 1 Myr ago is 0.39 and that of being hyperbolic 1 Myr from now is 0.49. However, for 3 Myr-long integrations, the respective probabilities are 0.77 and 0.74. These results suggest that C/2018 F4 is a relatively recent acquisition from the Oort cloud that was inserted in a very unstable orbit that may soon lead the comet to interstellar space although nearly 5% of simulations ended up in a collision with Jupiter or the Sun.
- Publication:
-
Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- October 2019
- DOI:
- 10.3847/2515-5172/ab4888
- Bibcode:
- 2019RNAAS...3..143D
- Keywords:
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- Solar system;
- Comets;
- Oort cloud;
- 1528;
- 1157;
- 280