2013 AZ60 came to perihelion in November 2014 at a distance of 7.9 AU from the Sun (inside of the orbit of Saturn). With an absolute magnitude (H) of 10.2,[4]2013 AZ60 has an estimated diameter of 40 km.[5]Comet Hale–Bopp, which is roughly the same size, was not discovered until it was 7.2 AU from the Sun and had started outgassing CO. 2013 AZ60 may be discovered to be cometary as it comes to perihelion. It comes to opposition at the start of April.
After leaving the planetary region of the Solar System, 2013 AZ60 will have a barycentric aphelion of 827 AU with an orbital period of 8500 years. In a 10 million year integration of the orbit, one of the 3-sigma clones is ejected from the Solar System.[2]
A 2016 study found 2013 AZ60 to have a comet-like albedo of 2.9% (darker than any other known ejected centaur) and a color typical of D-type asteroids. It is unknown if it is a so-called "super comet" or an extinct comet, considering its large distance from the Sun. It was also determined that 2013 AZ60 has a diameter of 62.3±5.3 kilometers, larger than initially believed. A light curve analysis found it to have a rotation period of 9.39±0.22 hours, typical of asteroids its size. No significant satellites were detected.
It was also found that 2013 AZ60 is on an extremely unstable orbit, with a ~64% chance of being ejected from the Solar system in 1 million years, and a ~25% chance of being ejected in the next 500,000 years, as well as a 4.2% chance of its orbit venturing into the neighborhood of Earth.[6]
The orbits of Sedna, 2012 VP113, Leleākūhonua, and other very distant objects along with the predicted orbit of Planet Nine. The three sednoids (pink) along with the red-colored extreme trans-Neptunian object (eTNO) orbits are suspected to be aligned with the hypothetical Planet Nine while the blue-colored eTNO orbits are anti-aligned. The highly elongated orbits colored brown include centaurs and damocloids with large aphelion distances over 200 AU.
