News - November 2000
11/29/2000
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James Danaher, Michael Oates and Xavier Leprette found several archival and real
time SOHO comets bringing the total of discovered SOHO comets to nearly 260.
(Sungrazer Homepage)
11/27/2000
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New Discovery!:
After a hiatus of 16 months a without a visual comet discovery Syogo Utsunomiya
(Aso, Kumamoto, Japan) reported the discovery of a fast-moving 8m comet
using 25x100 binoculars on Nov 18, 2000. All follow-up attempts were unsuccessful
but on Nov 25, 2000, Albert F. Jones (Nelson, New Zealand) reported the discovery
of a comet while observing the variable star T Aps with a 8cm refractor. Although
both positions were far apart a linkage between both was established and the
generated search ephemeris allowed confirming CCD observations. According to the
first and preliminary orbit comet C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya-Jones) is now only
0.3 AU from earth and will pass its perihelion on Dec 26, 2000, at about 0.32 AU.
Current brightness estimations place the comet at about 7m -
8m. The comet might become as bright as 6 but won't be
observable for mid-European observers until February 2001 - then only as bright as
about 11m. Both discoveres have already discovered comets. Albert F. Jones
- now 80 years old - found the first one in 1946 (C/1946 P1 (Jones)! (IAUC 7526,
7527)
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New Discovery!:
An asteroidal object, discovered on Sep 24, 2000, by the
LINEAR project, turned out to be
cometary according to observations by C. W. Hergenrother and A. E. Gleason (Steward
Observatory). The 53rd comet discovered by LINEAR was about
18m and is of short period (P about 7 years). Comet
P/2000 SO253 (LINEAR) will pass its perihelion in May 2001 at
about 1.7 AU. (IAUC 7524, MPEC 2000-W39)
- Four SOHO comets received designations and orbits: C/1997 V3 (SOHO),
C/1997 V4 (SOHO), C/1997 V5 (SOHO) and C/2000 V3 (SOHO) were
all found by Michael Oates. (MPEC 2000-W18)
11/21/2000
- Michael Oates found a real time comet in SOHO/C2 images of Nov 19/20, 2000, and
two further archival comets of December 1998. The inofficial counting of confirmed
SOHO/LASCO comet discoveries is now at 251.
(e-mail, Sungrazer Homepage)
11/19/2000
- Michael Oates found a real time comet in SOHO/C2 images of Nov 16, 2000.
(Sungrazer Homepage)
11/18/2000
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Maik Meyer found a real time comet in SOHO/C2 images of today. Further archival
SOHO comets of December 1998 were found by Michael Oates.
(Sungrazer Homepage)
11/16/2000
11/14/2000
- Nine SOHO comets received orbits and designations: C/1997 T8 (SOHO),
C/1997 U2 (SOHO), C/1997 U3 (SOHO), C/1997 U4 (SOHO),
C/1997 U5 (SOHO), C/1997 U6 (SOHO), C/1997 U7 (SOHO),
C/2000 V1 (SOHO) and C/2000 V2 (SOHO). The archival comets were found
by Michael Oates in C2 data, C/2000 V1 by Michael Boschat in C3 and C/2000 V2 by
Doug Biesecker in C2. (MPEC 2000-V35, 36)
11/12/2000
- Kenichi Kadota (Ageo, Saitama, Japan) recovered comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3
after its solar conjunction. The comet was surprisingly bright (about 13m)
in an CCD image taken at Nov 4, 2000. The comet broke up in 1995 leading to a brightness
outburst from 12m to 6m. The comet is not observable from
mid-European latitudes. (IAUC 7518)
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Xavier Leprette found another archival SOHO comet of December 1997. Michael Oates
found a real time comet in C2 images of Nov 11, 2000.
(Sungrazer Homepage,
BAA Comet Section)
11/09/2000
11/07/2000
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Four further archival SOHO comets - found by Michael Oates and Xavier Leprette -
have received orbits and designations. Comets C/1997 T7 (SOHO),
C/1999 V2 (SOHO), C/1999 V3 (SOHO) and C/1999 V4 (SOHO) are all
members of the Kreutz group. (IAUC 7517, MPEC 2000-V22)
- Michael Oates and Xavier Leprette found further several archival SOHO comets of
November 1997. (Sungrazer Homepage,
BAA Comet Section)
11/06/2000
11/05/2000
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Four archival SOHO comets - all found by Michael Oates - have received orbits and
designations. Comets C/1997 T6 (SOHO), C/1999 U7 (SOHO),
C/1999 U8 (SOHO) and C/1999 U9 (SOHO) were only visible in C2 and are
members of the Kreutz group. (MPEC 2000-V14)
- Michael Oates and Xavier Leprette found several archival SOHO comets of October
1997. Michael Boschat found a real-time comet in SOHO/C3 images of Nov 04, 2000.
(e-mail, Sungrazer Homepage,
BAA Comet Section)
11/01/2000
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New Discovery!:
On Oct. 23, 2000, M. Tichy together with J. Ticha and M. Kocer
(Klet Observatory, Czech Republic) discovered a
17.5m comet. Comet P/2000 U6 (Tichy) passed its perihelion on
Oct. 04, 2000, at about 2.1 AU. It is a short period comet with a period of about
7.3 years. (IAUC 7515, MPEC 2000-V03)
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New Discovery!:
The LINEAR project discovered its
52nd comet on Oct. 29, 2000. After the initial report as an asteroidal
object several observers noted the cometary appearance. The 14.5m comet
C/2000 U5 (LINEAR) passed its perihelion already in February 2000, at about
1.9 AU. The comet might have been as bright as 11m from January through
April but then situated in the southern skies and in conjunction with the Sun. (IAUC
7515, MPEC 2000-V02)