Cometary Activity of P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS) in 2020

This work presents the results of CCD photometric observations of the Jupiter-family comet P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS), conducted in August 2020 at the Sanglokh International Astronomical Observatory of the Institute of Astrophysics, National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. Based on R band photometric analysis, physical parameters of the comet were derived. The dust production Afρ was estimated to be on the order of 250 cm at an aperture radius of ρ = 4.05″. The absolute magnitude of the comet was determined as m(1,1,0) = 11.42. Assuming a geometric albedo of A = 0.12 and using measurements in R band, an upper limit for the effective nucleus radius was evaluated as ~7.8 km. The photometric results indicate that, during the observational period in August 2020, the object exhibited clear signatures of cometary activity, including the presence of a developed coma. These findings contribute to the characterization of transitional objects between asteroids and comets within the Jupiter-family population.

Keywords: comets, photometry, observational, cometary activity.