News - January 2001

01/29/2001

New Discovery!: The NEAT project discovered a new comet on Jan. 24, 2001. The 14.5^m comet C/2001 B2 (NEAT) will - according to the first and preliminary set of obital elements - pass its perihelion in June 2001, at about 5.2 AU. The comet may become only slightly brighter within the following weeks. (IAUC 7572, 7572, MPEC 2001-B47)
The 292^nd SOHO comet received an orbit and a designation: Comet C/2001 B3 (SOHO) was found by M. Oates. (IAUC 7573, MPEC 200-B45)

01/25/2001

New Discovery!: The LINEAR project discovered a new comet on Jan. 22, 2001. Several observers confirmed the 16.5^m object. The first and preliminary orbit for comet C/2001 B1 (LINEAR) - the 57^th comet discovered by LINEAR - indicates a perihelion in September 2000, at about 2.8 AU. (IAUC 7570)

01/23/2001

Another four SOHO comets received orbits and designations: C/2000 H3 (SOHO) and C/2000 H4 (SOHO) were found by M. Oates, C/2000 H5 (SOHO) by D. Biesecker and C/2001 A4 (SOHO) by M. Boschat. (MPEC 2001-B21)

01/22/2001

Eight further SOHO comets received orbits and designations: C/2000 J6 (SOHO) was found by T. Scarmato, C/2000 J7 (SOHO), C/2000 K7 (SOHO), C/2000 K8 (SOHO), C/2000 L6 (SOHO) and C/2000 N3 (SOHO) by M. Oates, C/2000 X8 (SOHO) by D. Biesecker and C/2001 A3 (SOHO) by M. Boschat. (IAUC 7567, MPEC 2001-B11, -B12)

01/19/2001

Five more SOHO comets received orbits and designations: C/2000 Y5 (SOHO) was discovered by M. Boschat, C/2000 Y6 (SOHO) by M. Meyer, C/2000 Y7 (SOHO) by S. Hönig, C/2000 Y8 (SOHO) by M. Boschat and C/2000 Y9 (SOHO) by M. Oates. C/2000 Y6 and C/2000 Y7 move on almost the same non-Kreutz orbit; all other comets are members of the Kreutz group. (MPEC 2001-B08)

01/16/2001

New Discovery!: The LINEAR project discovered an asteroidal object on Jan. 15, 2001. P. Pravec and L. Sarounova (Ondrejov) and M. Tichy and M. Kocer (Klet) noted the cometary appearance. Pre-discovery observations by LONEOS and LINEAR of Jan. 03, 05, and 06, 2001 were also found. Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) - the 56^th comet discovered by LINEAR - is about 17^m and will pass his perihelion on May 24, 2001, at about 0.8 AU. This comet might reach 9^m in June 2000 but not observable for mid-European observers. A short observing window will close in March (with maybe about 13^m) and another will open in July 2001 with maybe 10^m. (IAUC 7564, MPEC 2001-B05)

01/15/2001

New Discovery!: The LINEAR project discovered a new comet on Jan 07, 2001. Several observers confirmed the cometary nature. Comet C/2001 A1 (LINEAR) - the 55^th comet discovered by LINEAR - is about 16.5^m and passed (according to the first and preliminary orbit) his perihelion in September 2000, at about 2.5 AU. (IAUC 7561, MPEC 2001-A54)
13 SOHO comets received orbits and designations: C/1997 S3 (SOHO), C/1998 U6 (SOHO), C/1998 V5 (SOHO) and C/1998 V6 (SOHO) were found by X. Leprette, C/1998 X11 (SOHO) by M. Oates, C/2000 X1 (SOHO), C/2000 X2 (SOHO) and C/2000 X3 (SOHO) by M. Boschat, C/2000 X4 (SOHO) by X.-M. Zhou, C/2000 X5 (SOHO) by M. Oates, C/2000 X6 (SOHO) and C/2000 X7 (SOHO) by M. Boschat and C/2000 Y4 (SOHO) by T. Lovejoy. (MPEC 2001-A43, -A47, IAUC 7560)

01/09/2001

Another 4 SOHO comets received orbits and designations: C/1997 B3 (SOHO) was found by J. Danaher, C/1998 V4 (SOHO) and C/1998 W6 (SOHO) by X. Leprette and C/2000 W5 (SOHO) by M. Oates. (MPEC 2001-A35) 261 comets are now official discoveries by the SOHO spacecraft with 21 comets still awaiting the official designation.

01/06/2001

9 SOHO comets received orbits and designations: C/1998 B2 (SOHO) was found by J. Danaher, C/1998 V2 (SOHO), C/1998 V3 (SOHO), C/1998 W4 (SOHO), C/1998 W5 (SOHO) were found by X. Leprette, C/1998 X9 (SOHO) and C/1998 X10 (SOHO) by M. Oates, C/2000 A2 (SOHO) by J. Danaher and C/2000 W4 (SOHO) by M. Oates. (MPEC 2001-A31, -A33)
Comet 2000 SO₂₅₃ (Anderson-LINEAR) was also identified with Siding Spring Observations of Nov 1993 by Reiner Stoss in the course of the DANEOPS project immediately after the discovery by LINEAR. (e-mail)

01/03/2001

New Discovery!: J. V. Scotti reports the discovery of a 17.5^m comet with the Spacewatch telescope on Dec 30, 2000. With additional astrometry (including pre-discovery observations by LINEAR of Nov 29 and Dec 21) a short period orbit was calculated. Comet P/2000 Y3 (Scotti) passed its perihelion in Nov 2000, at about 4.0 AU. The orbital period is about 11.4 years. (IAUC 7552, 7553, MPEC 2000-Y47)
New Discovery!: B. Skiff (Lowell Obs.) reports the discovery of a comet on Dec 27, 2000, in the course of the LONEOS program. According to the first orbital elements comet 2000 Y2 will pass its perihelion on Jan 24, 2001, at about 2.8 AU. It won't become much brighter than the discovery brightness of about 17^m. (IAUC 7549, 7550)
S. Nakano identified comet P/2000 SO₂₅₃ with P/1963 W1 = 1963 IX, which was observed on four days in 1963. The new identification is P/1963 W1 = 2000 SO₂₅₃ (Anderson-LINEAR). The comet approached Jupiter at 0.1 AU in 1961 and 0.4 AU in 1985. (IAUC 7548)
The unnamed comet P/2000 S4 received the name P/2000 LINEAR-Spacewatch by the IAU Committee on Small Bodies Nomenclature. (IAUC 7553)