C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)

C/2018 N2 is the second of two comets discovered by the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae after C/2017 O1. It is a hyperbolic comet that reached perihelion in November 2019, and as a result, it may never return to the inner Solar System.

Discovery and observation

The comet was first spotted as a magnitude 16.4 object by the ASAS-SN survey from images taken at the Cerro Tololo Observatory's 14-cm "Cassius" telescope between 7–11 July 2018. It made its closest approach to Earth on 19 October 2019 at a distance of before reaching perihelion on 11 November 2019. Although it did not go closer than 3.12 AU from the Sun at perihelion, observations of the comet did show some significant signs of activity, including a dust tail forming around July 2019. It was last observed as a magnitude 20+ object on 28 May 2022.