Copyright © 1998 by Weidong Li

      Weidong Li (UC Berkeley) discovered this comet with the 0.76-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) and a CCD camera in the course of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search program. The comet was located on an image of the galaxy NGC 1041 that had been exposed on 1998 December 26.24. Although the comet was detected automatically by the software as a probable supernova, Li immediately noted it appeared diffuse and suspected it was a comet. He then used the equipment to confirm the observation. The comet's magnitude was determined as 16.2 on December 26, and 15.3-15.5 on December 27.

• Brian G. Marsden computed a parabolic orbit from positions obtained on December 26, 27, and 28. These computations indicated a perihelion date of 1999 February 1.85, a perihelion distance of 2.67 AU, and an orbital inclination of 26.4 degrees. Marsden suggested the comet could be moving in a short-period orbit.
• Following the December 28 publication of Marsden's parabolic orbit, prediscovery images were subsequently found on images obtained on September 23, and October 28 and 29 by the Catalina Sky Survey. These new images, as well as a few obtained after the comet's discovery at Lick, enabled Marsden to confirm his suspicion that the comet was periodic, with a resulting perihelion date of 1998 December 17.89 and an orbital period of 15.2 years.