News - August 2003

08/13/2003

O. Hainaut and A. Delsanti have reported observations of 1P/Halley with the 8.2-m f/11 reflector + CCD at Cerro Paranal (Chile). The comet was observed on March 6, 7, and 8, 2003, at a brightness of 28.0^m - 28.2^m. The comet was then a distance of about 28 AU from the sun. The comet is now under observation since Oct. 16, 1982, for its latest return (Feb. 1986). (MPEC 2003-P48)

08/06/2003

New Discovery!: On July 30, 2003, the LINEAR survey found an apparently asteroidal object which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Follow-up observers P. Birtwhistle (Great Shefford), J. Ticha and M. Tichy (Klet), and J. McGaha (near Tucson) detected the cometary nature of the 17.5^m object. The first orbit for comet P/2003 O3 (LINEAR) shows a perihelion at about 1.3 AU on August 13, 2003. It indicates that the comet passed 0.3 AU from Jupiter in 1979. The period is about 6.5 years. This is the 115^th comet discovery by LINEAR. (IAUC 8174, MPEC 2003-P25)
Further astrometry confirm the first suspicion that comet 2003 O2 is of short period. The updated orbit for comet P/2003 O2 (LINEAR) shows the perihelion at about 1.5 AU on Sep. 5, 2003. The period is about 8.9 years. (IAUC 8174, MPEC 2003-P24)

08/02/2003

Five non-Kreutz SOHO comets received orbits and designations. C/2003 H5 (SOHO) was found by R. Kracht and is a member of the Meyer group. C/2003 H6 (SOHO) and C/2003 H7 (SOHO) are related to each other but belong to no known group and were also found by R. Kracht. C/2003 K5 (SOHO), found by X. Leprette, and C/2003 K6 (SOHO), found by X.-M. Zhou, are Meyer group comets, too. This group now consists of 41 members. SOHO has now found 564 comets but nearly 80 Kreutz comets are still in the backlog. (MPEC 2003-P02)

08/01/2003

New Discovery!: On July 29, 2003, the LINEAR survey found a new comet. Follow-up observers detected a 17^m object showing a wide and diffuse tail up to 6' long (image by P. Birtwhistle). The first and very preliminary parabolic orbit for comet C/2003 O2 (LINEAR) shows a perihelion at 1.6 AU in early September 2003. It is likely that the comet is of short period. This is the 114^th comet discovery by LINEAR. (IAUC 8172, MPEC 2003-O43)