News - December 2000
12/21/2000
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New Discovery!:
An asteroidal object, discovered on Dec 16, 2000, by the
LINEAR project showed unusual motion.
Further observations by LINEAR of Nov 16, and 18, 2000, lead to a designation as
an asteroid - 2000 WM1. An observation by T. Spahr of Dec 20, 2000,
showed a small coma and a tail. The comet C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR) -
the 54rd comet discovered by LINEAR - will pass its perihelion in
January 2002 at about 0.55 AU! The current brightness of about 17.5m
leads to the possibility of a naked eye comet in 2001/2002 with about 4m.
The comet may become visible for mid-European observers in moderate telescopes in
fall 2001 and will disappear in the evening sky in December 2001 with maybe
4m - 5m. Another observing window opens in spring 2002, then
maybe with 7m - 8m. (IAUC 7546, MPEC 2000-Y20)
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A non-Kreutz sungrazing comet was discovered by Maik Meyer on Dec 20, 2000, in
SOHO/C2 images. Sebastian Hönig detected that this comet was followed
closely by at least one fainter fragment and maybe a third.
(Sungrazer Homepage)
12/20/2000
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George E. D. Alcock of Peterborough, England, discoverer of 5 comets and 5 novae,
died on Dec 15, 2000, at the age of 88 years. His last comet discovery happened
on May 03, 1983, when he co-discovered the bright comet C/1983 H1
(IRAS-Araki-Alcock). (e-mail)
12/19/2000
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Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak experienced another outburst after the one
a few weeks ago which increased the brightness to about 10m. The current
outburst of the nominally 14m comet increased the visual brightness to
about 8m according to observations by Y. Nagai and A. Pearce. (e-mail,
Comet Observation Home Page)
12/18/2000
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New Discovery!:
On Dec 16, 2000, a new comet was discovered by Andrew F. Tubbiolo with the
Spacewatch telescope. Comet C/2000 Y1 (Tubbiolo) is about 19m.
With pre-discovery observations by LINEAR (Oct 24, Nov 02, and 29) a first orbit was
established which shows a perihelion in February 2001 at about 8 AU! (IAUC 7544,
MPEC 2000-Y06)
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Two SOHO comets received orbits and designations. Comets C/2000 W2 (SOHO),
discovered by Michael Oates, and C/2000 W3 (SOHO), discovered by Maik Meyer.
(MPEC 2000-x48)
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Several archival and real time SOHO comets were found.
(Sungrazer Homepage)
12/14/2000
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A preliminary analysis of astrometric data of the three components of comet
73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 by Zdenek Sekanina (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
revealed that the new component E did not separate recently. The analysis indicates
that the time of splitting from component C was in mid-December 1995. The failure
to detect this component back then is due to the small apparent angular separation
at this time. Furthermore it was shown that component B separated from C around
Nov 11, 1995. (IAUC 7541)
12/07/2000
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Michael Boschat and Xavier Leprette found several archival and real time SOHO
comets. (Sungrazer Homepage)
12/04/2000
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Recent observations of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 indicate three
nuclear components: Components B and C were already observed at the 1995 outburst
and splitting, while component E is new an was first detected by K. Kadota (Ageo,
Japan, 0.18-m reflector + CCD) on Nov. 28.84 UT and by M. Jaeger (Puchenstuben,
Austria, 0.3-m reflector + Technical Pan film) on Dec. 1.19 UT. Under the assumption
that component C is the primary component then components B and E are separated by
a delta-T of +0.27 and +0.74 day, respectively. Visual brightness estimations put
component C at about 11.5m. CCD- and photographic observations are showing
component E about 1.5-2m fainter than C and component B about
2.5-3m. (IAUC 7534)
- 14 archival SOHO comets received designations and orbits: C/1997 V6 (SOHO),
C/1997 X3 (SOHO), C/1997 X4 (SOHO), C/1997 X5 (SOHO),
C/1997 X6 (SOHO), C/1997 Y1 (SOHO), C/1997 Y2 (SOHO),
C/1997 Y3 (SOHO), C/1998 X3 (SOHO), C/1998 X4 (SOHO),
C/1998 X5 (SOHO), C/1998 X6 (SOHO), C/1998 X7 (SOHO) and
C/1998 X8 (SOHO) were all found by Xavier Leprette and Michael Oates.
(IAUC 7534, MPEC 2000-X13, -X14)
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Michael Boschat, Xavier Leprette and Michael Oates found several archival and real
time SOHO comets. (Sungrazer Homepage)