News - May 2004

2004 May 28

New Discovery!: R. McNaught reports his discovery of a new comet in the course of the Siding Spring Survey on May 20, 2004. The 18^m comet was posted on the NEO Confirmation page and could be confirmed as a comet by J. Young (Table Mountain) and A. C. Gilmore and P. M. Kilmartin (Mount John). P/2004 K2 (McNaught) will, according to the first and preliminary orbit, pass perihelion in June 2004, at about 1.6 AU. It has a period of about 9.5 years. This is Rob McNaught's 13^th comet discovery. (IAUC 8348, MPEC 2004-K61)
New Discovery!: On May 13, X.-M. Zhou, K. Cernis, and M. Mattiazzo independently reported a possible comet in the UV all-sky images of the SWAN instrument aboard the SOHO spacecraft. First attempts to for a ground-based confirmation of the possible comet were inconclusive. New images by SWAN still showed the object and more and more ground-based reports from Australia finally confirmed the new comet. C/2004 H6 (SWAN) is about 8^m and has, according the very preliminary first orbit, already passed perihelion on May 12, 2004, at about 0.78 AU. It will become visible for Central Europe in July, but it is very hard to tell how bright it then might be. This is SOHO's 706^th and SWANs 4^th comet discovery. (IAUC 8346, IAUC 8347)

2004 May 26

Further SOHO backlog comets (all Kreutz group): C/2003 V8 (SOHO) (J. Sachs), C/2003 W3 (SOHO) (X.-M. Zhou), C/2003 W4 (SOHO) (D. Evans), C/2003 W5 (SOHO) (M. Boschat), C/2003 W6 (SOHO) (J. Sachs), C/2003 W7 (SOHO) (X.-M. Zhou), C/2003 W8 (SOHO) (G. Gallina), C/2003 X1 (SOHO) (T. Hoffman), C/2003 X2 (SOHO) (M. Boschat) and C/2003 X3 (SOHO) (X.-M. Zhou). Current official SOHO score: 706 comets. (MPEC 2004-K54, MPEC 2004-K55)

2004 May 24

New Discovery!: An asteroidal object, discovered on May 21, by the Catalina Sky Survey and posted on the NEO Confirmation Page has been found by T. Spahr to show a weak coma with a possible very faint extension to the west on CCD images obtained by J. B. Battat and himself (Mt. Hopkins). CCD images taken by S. Sanchez, J. Nomen, and R. Stoss on May 24.1 (Mallorca) show the object to have a softer appearance than the surrounding stars. The 17.5^m comet C/2004 K1 (Catalina) passes perihelion in July 2005, at about 3.4 AU. It may then reach 14^m. This is Catalina's 13^th comet discovery. (IAUC 8343, MPEC 2004-K50)

2004 May 23

Further SOHO backlog comets Kreutz group: C/2003 U7 (SOHO) (X.-M. Zhou), C/2003 U8 (SOHO) (X. Leprette), C/2003 U9 (SOHO) (M. Boschat, J. Sachs, J. Danaher), C/2003 V2 (SOHO) (R. Kracht), C/2003 V3 (SOHO) (M. Boschat), C/2003 V4 (SOHO) (M. Boschat), C/2003 V5 (SOHO) (M. Boschat), C/2003 V6 (SOHO) (T. Hoffman) and C/2003 V3 (SOHO) (R. Matson). C/2003 T12 (SOHO) (J. Danaher) is a non-group comet. Its orbit is quite uncertain and may well be of short-period. Current official SOHO score: 696 comets. (MPEC 2004-K33, MPEC 2004-K34)

2004 May 20

Further SOHO backlog comets (all Kreutz group): C/2003 Q10 (SOHO) (M. Boschat), C/2003 T9 (SOHO) (X.-M. Zhou), C/2003 T10 (SOHO) (J. Sachs), C/2003 T11 (SOHO) (M. Boschat), C/2003 U5 (SOHO) (X. Leprette) and C/2003 U6 (SOHO) (J. Sachs). Current official SOHO score: 686 comets. (MPEC 2004-K16)

2004 May 15

Further SOHO backlog comets: Kreutz group: C/2003 Q7 (SOHO) (M. Boschat), C/2003 Q8 (SOHO) (M. Boschat), C/2003 Q9 (SOHO) (J. Sachs), C/2003 R2 (SOHO) (X.-M. Zhou), C/2003 R3 (SOHO) (J. Sachs), C/2003 S5 (SOHO) (X. Leprette), C/2003 S6 (SOHO) (M. Boschat), C/2003 S7 (SOHO) (J. Sachs), C/2003 S8 (SOHO) (J. Sachs) and C/2003 T8 (SOHO) (R. Matson). Non-group comets: C/2003 R4 (SOHO) (R. Kracht) and C/2003 S9 (SOHO) (R. Kracht). C/2003 R5 (SOHO) (K. Cernis) has identical orbital elements as C/1999 R1 (SOHO). This seems to support R. Kracht's idea of another comet group, whose third member would then be C/2002 R5 (SOHO). More about all groups can be found here. Current official SOHO score: 680 comets. (MPEC 2004-J57, (MPEC 2004-J58, (MPEC 2004-J59)

2004 May 10

D. J. Tholen (University of Hawaii) reports that the asteroidal object 2004 HV₆₀ shows signs of cometary activity on two 400-s R exposures taken on May 8.3 UT by F. Bernardi, J. Pittichova, and N. Moskovitz with the UH 2.24-m telescope on Mauna Kea. The 20.5^m comet C/2004 HV₆₀ (Spacewatch) passed perihelion at about 3.1 AU in December 2003. This is the 26^th comet discovery by Spacewatch. (IAUC 8337, MPEC 2004-J34)

2004 May 05

Further SOHO backlog comets: C/2003 U4 (SOHO) (R. Matson), C/2003 W2 (SOHO) (X.-M. Zhou), C/2003 Y1 (SOHO) (M. Meyer), C/2004 B2 (SOHO) (R. Kracht), C/2004 C2 (SOHO) (X. Leprette), C/2004 H4 (SOHO) (R. Kracht) and C/2004 H5 (SOHO) (K. Battams). All comets are clear members of the Meyer group, which now consists of 49 members. Current official SOHO score: 667 comets. (MPEC 2004-J21)
Further SOHO backlog comets: C/2003 P3 (SOHO) (T. Hoffman), C/2003 Q1 (SOHO) (T. Hoffman), C/2003 Q2 (SOHO) (J. Sachs), C/2003 Q3 (SOHO) (J. Sachs), C/2003 Q4 (SOHO) (M. Boschat), C/2003 Q5 (SOHO) (J. Sachs) and C/2003 Q6 (SOHO) (R. Kracht). C/2003 Q1 and C/2003 Q6 are non-Kreutz comets. Their orbital elements are quite close to these of the Marsden group but show distinct differences. Current official SOHO score: 660 comets. (MPEC 2004-J19)

2004 May 01

New Discovery!: An asteroidal object discovered by the LINEAR survey on Apr 17, 2004, and designated 2004 HC₁₈, has been found to be cometary by A. Gleason and J. Larsen on CCD exposures taken by J. Scotti with the Spacewatch telescope on Apr. 25, 2004. The 17.5^m comet C/2004 HC₁₈ (LINEAR) will pass perihelion in June 2004, at about 1.7 AU. The period is about 6.6 years. This is LINEARs 141^st comet discovery. (IAUC 8333, MPEC 2004-H90)
The Spacewatch survey discovered an asteroidal object in a cometary orbit on Apr. 25, 2004. The 21^m faint object 2004 HV₆₀ has just passed perihelion at about 3.1 AU. With an eccentricity of nearly 0.98 the period is about 1400 years. (MPEC 2004-H91)