Comet 96P/Machholz

Comet 96P/Machholz has a highly eccentric 5.2-year orbit and the smallest perihelion distance (closer than the orbit of Mercury) known among numbered/regular short-period comets. Heat resistant. Depleted of carbon and cyanogen, therefore assumed to be of extrasolar origin. Report in Sternzeit. 

 

Pic of Comet Machholz close to the open cluster M45 - Plejades by Michael Karrer.