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'''168P/Hergenrother''' is a [[List of periodic comets|periodic]] [[comet]] in the [[Solar System]]. The comet originally named '''P/1998 W2''' returned in 2005 and got the temporary name '''P/2005 N2'''.<ref name="recovery"/> The comet was last observed in February 2013,<ref name=MPC/> and may have continued fragmenting after the 2012 outburst.
== 2012 outburst ==
The comet came to [[Apsis|perihelion]] on 1 October 2012,<ref name="NK1778"/> and was expected to reach about [[apparent magnitude]] 15.2, but due to an outburst the comet reached apparent magnitude 8.<ref name="Yoshida-2012"/> As a result of the outburst of gas and dust, the comet was briefly more than 500 times brighter than it would have been without the outburst.<ref name=outburst-math/> On 19 October 2012, images by the [[Virtual Telescope Project]] showed a dust cloud trailing the nucleus.<ref name="VT168P"/> Images by the {{convert|2|m|in|abbr=on}} [[Faulkes Telescope North]] on 26 October 2012 confirm a [[Comet nucleus#Splitting|fragmentation event]].<ref name="Faulkes"/> The secondary fragment was about magnitude 17. Further observations by the {{convert|8.1|m|in|abbr=on}} [[Gemini telescope]] show that the comet fragmented into at least four parts.<ref name="badastronomy"/>
== 2019 ==
168P came to perihelion around August 5, 2019,<ref name=MPC/> when it was expected to be 76 degrees from the Sun. 168P has not yet been recovered and may have disintegrated. During this perihelion passage 168P will make a closest approach to Earth in early November 2019 when it will be {{Convert|1|AU|e6km|abbr=unit|lk=on}} from Earth with a [[solar elongation]] of about 110 degrees.
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