C/2014 OG392 (PanSTARRS) (original) (raw)

C/2014 OG392 (PanSTARRS) is a comet discovered as a centaur on 28 July 2014 when it was 11.5 AU (1.72 billion km) from the Sun and had an apparent magnitude of 21. The comet was relatively easier to detect at this distance because the nucleus is estimated to be 20 km in diameter. DECam images from 2017 of the comet at 10.6 AU (1.59 billion km) from the Sun showed activity likely produced by carbon dioxide (CO2) and/or ammonia (NH3) sublimation (off-gassing). Clones of the orbit of C/2014 OG392 estimate a dynamic lifetime (amount of time in the current orbit) of 13 thousand to a million years.