However, in 2003, the orbital elements of newly discovered asteroid 2003 WY25 were calculated by Marco Micheli and others to be a probable match for the lost comet.

[3] Further observations of the asteroid in 2005 by David Jewitt using the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope on Mauna Kea, appeared to reveal a faint coma, which supports the theory that 2003 WY25 is the lost comet, or a part of it.

On 11 January 2020 the comet approached Earth at a distance of 0.091 AU (13,600,000 km; 8,500,000 mi).

The perihelion-normalized nongravitational acceleration, a'NG = 3.1 × 10−6, is approximately an order of magnitude smaller than the trend observed for well-studied comets, consistent with weak outgassing.

[8] 289P/Blanpain has been proposed to be the primary target of the Japanese Next Generation small-body Sample Return (NGSR) mission, designed to be launched in 2030s.

The comet was choosen due to its favorable orbital characteristics and small size.

Analysis of the orbits of asteroid 2003 WY25 have supported this conjecture, and it is thought likely that the comet was already breaking up at the time of its 1819 return.