[4] The close flyby enabled the size of the nucleus to be calculated at about 1 km (0.62 mi) in diameter, which was much bigger than expected.

[5] The object when discovered on 22 January 2016 by a Pan-STARRS telescope, was thought to be an asteroid and went by the provisional minor planet designation 2016 BA14.

[5] Astronomer Denis Denisenko noted the body's orbit was very similar to 252P/LINEAR, which led to a follow-up observation by the Lowell Discovery Telescope.

[8] The comet was recovered by R. Weryk in images obtained by the 1.8 m Ritchey–Chrétien telescope of Pan-STARRS on 17 October 2020, when it had an estimated apparent magnitude of 22.6, and was followed up to 5 January 2021.

[6] 460P/PanSTARRS was observed by the Goldstone Solar System Radar in California over three days, which revealed various properties including a rotation rate of 35–40 hours along one axis.

[15] NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) also made observations of P/2016 BA14,[3] revealing that P/2016 BA14 was reflecting only 2-3 percent of visible light.

[17] The comet was also observed in mid infrared by the Cooled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer in Subaru Telescope in Hawaii.

The observations revealed that it is an inactive body covered by phyllosilicate and organic materials with a diameter of 800 meters.