have passed even closer at about 0.012 AU from Earth on June 12, 1999, but the uncertainties are around ±1.5 million km as the P/1999 J6 approach was unobserved.

Discovery

The comet was discovered on June 14, 1770, in the constellation Sagittarius by Messier, who had just completed an observation of Jupiter and was examining several nebulae. At this time it was very faint, but his observations over the

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