The comet was discovered in images taken by the 0.91 m
Spacewatch telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory by Tom Gehrels on September 8, 1991 as an essentially stellar object with an
apparent magnitude of 21, with a tail more than 5 arcminutes long.
Brian G. Marsden calculated a parabolic and an elliptical orbit, with the elliptical orbit suggesting an orbital period of 5.58 years and a perihelion date on 18 December 1990. The comet was recovered on 21 March 1996 by the Spacewatch telescope from
James V. Scotti and J. Montani, with an apparent magnitude of 17.6, a tail measuring 0.66 arcminutes long and a coma measuring 15 arcseconds across. The orbit calculated after the recovery indicates an orbital period of 5.56 years. During that apparition the comet experienced an outburst in late July 1996 and brightened to a magnitude of 14.5. During the 2002 apparition the comet brightened to a magnitude of 18. == References ==