76P/West–Kohoutek–Ikemura

76P/West–Kohoutek–Ikemura is a Jupiter-family periodic comet in the Solar System with a current orbital period of 6.47 years.

Key facts

Comet.name: 76P/West–Kohoutek–Ikemura
Comet.image: 76P 2019-12-29 image ZTF-sso-752-zr-size-4.0arcmin.png
Comet.caption: 76P/W–K–I photographed from the Zwicky Transient Facility on 29 December 2019
Comet.discoverer: Richard M. WestLubos KohoutekToshihiko Ikemura
Comet.discovery_site: Geneva, SwitzerlandHamburg, GermanyShinshiro, Japan
Comet.discovery_date: January–March 1975
Comet.mpc_name: P/1975 D1, P/1980 V2
Comet.epoch: 21 January 2022 (JD 2459600.5)
Comet.observation_arc: 48.44 years
Comet.earliest_precovery_date: 15 October 1974
Comet.obs: 1,281
Comet.perihelion

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Article

6 sections

Contents

Discovery and observations
Orbit
Physical characteristics
See also
References
External links

76P/West–Kohoutek–Ikemura is a Jupiter-family periodic comet in the Solar System with a current orbital period of 6.47 years.

== Discovery and observations == The comet was initially spotted on a photographic plate by Richard M. West at the European Southern Observatory Sky Atlas Laboratory, Geneva in January 1975, when it had a brightness of magnitude 12. Inability to predict its movement from a single image meant the comet had to be presumed lost.