C/2018 C2 (Lemmon)

C/2018 C2 (Lemmon) is a comet discovered on February 5, 2018, by the Mount Lemmon Survey. It is a long-period comet, meaning that its orbital period is greater than 200 years. The "C/" designation indicates that it is a non-periodic comet; however, this may change with future observations.

The comet's discovery was announced in a Minor Planet Electronic Circular (MPEC). Its orbit has been calculated based on observations over a period of time after discovery, allowing astronomers to estimate its trajectory and future visibility.

The name "Lemmon" refers to the Mount Lemmon Observatory, located in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, Arizona. This observatory is part of the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS), which aims to discover and catalog near-Earth objects (NEOs), including comets and asteroids. The discovery of C/2018 C2 (Lemmon) is one of the numerous contributions the CSS has made to our understanding of the solar system.

Observations of C/2018 C2 (Lemmon) have contributed to our understanding of cometary composition and behavior as it approaches the Sun. Analysis of its coma and tail may reveal information about the comet's volatile materials and its interaction with the solar wind. Long-period comets like C/2018 C2 (Lemmon) are of particular interest to astronomers because they originate from the Oort cloud, a distant region of icy bodies believed to be a remnant of the early solar system.