Comet C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS) will reach its perihelion (the closest point on its orbit to the Sun) slightly before 2.00 am GMT on Tuesday 9 May 2023, when it will be approximately 3.07 AU from the Sun (i.e. 3.07 times as far from the Sun as the planet Earth, or 459 829 000 km). At this time the comet is 2.63 AU from the Earth, in the constellation of Pavo, having a magnitude of 12.98, making it visible with a telescope with an aperture of 250 mm or greater. The constellation of Corona Borealis is high in the Southern Hemisphere sky, which means that viewing this comet will be impossible from much of the Northern Hemisphere.
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Comet C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS) was discovered on 17 May 2020 by the the University of Hawaii's PANSTARRS telescope. The name C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS) implies that it is a comet (C/), that it was discovered in the second half of May 2020 (period 2020 K), that it was the first comet discovered within this period (1), and that it was discovered by the PANSTARRS telescope.
Comet C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS) has an estimated orbital period of 1.98 million years and a highly eccentric orbit tilted at an angle of 89.66° to the plain of the Solar System, that brings it from 3.07 AU from the Sun at closest perihelion (307% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun, or more than twice as far from the Sun as the planet Mars) to 31 499 AU from the Sun at aphelion (31 499 times as far from the Sun as the Earth, within the Outer Oort Cloud). As a comet with a period of more than 200 years, C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS) is considered to be a Long Period Comet.
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