Pre-perihelion observations of comet P/2023 JN16 (Lemmon) at the 2024 apparition

TL;DR

This paper reports on pre-perihelion observations of comet P/2023 JN16 (Lemmon) during its 2024 apparition, analyzing its activity, photometric properties, and estimating its nucleus size based on data collected with the SkyMapper telescope.

Contribution

It provides new observational data and analysis of P/2023 JN16's activity and physical properties during its 2024 apparition, including nucleus size estimation.

Findings

Detected dusty activity over several months

Estimated nucleus radius less than 0.5 km

Activity likely driven by large, slow-moving particles

Abstract

We present an analysis of the photometric data of new main belt comet P/2023 JN16 (Lemmon) observed with the 1.35-m SkyMapper telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in 2024 during July - September. The faint object showed dusty activity during a long period. Some photometric parameters, such as SkyMapper r band magnitudes, Afrho parameters, and absolute magnitude were estimated. We estimate the nuclear radius for comet P/2023 JN16 to be less than 0.5 km. The activity of the object is possible driven by the release of large, slow-moving particles.