News - August 2005

2005 August 29

New Discovery!: An apparently asteroidal object discovered on Aug. 27, by the LINEAR survey has been found to be cometary after posting on the NEO Confirmation Page by J. Lacruz (Madrid), J. E. McGaha (Tucson), and J. Young (Table Mountain). The 18^m comet C/2005 Q1 (LINEAR) will pass perihelion according to the uncertain and preliminary orbital elements in March 2006, at about 6.2 AU. This is LINEARs 159^th comet discovery. (IAUC 8590, subscription required, MPEC 2005-Q48)

2005 August 27

New Discovery!: A new comet was found on publicly available images of the SWAN instrument aboard the SOHO spacecraft independently by H. Sato (Sukagawa), M. Suzuki (Utsunomiya), M. Mattiazzo (Adelaide), M. Jäger (Vienna), and V. Bezugly (Dnepropetrovsk). The comet was detected in images back to Aug. 04. First visual confirmation came by A. Hale (Cloudcroft) on Aug. 25, who estimated the comet as roughly 9.5^m. The comet was also found on survey images by S. Sanchez, R. Stoss, and J. Nomen (Mallorca) of Aug. 24. The preliminary orbit for comet C/2005 P3 (SWAN) indicates perihelion already on Aug. 09, at about 0.5 AU. For mid-European observers the comet will be observable in the evening sky becoming steadily fainter. This is SOHOs 1001^st official comet discovery. (IAUC 8587, subscription required,)

2005 August 25

Two new permanent numbers for periodic comets: P/2002 EX₁₂ is now 169P/NEAT and P/2005 M1 is now 170P/Christensen.

2005 August 18

Further SOHO Kreutz comets: C/2005 O4 (SOHO) (T. Hoffman), C/2005 O6 (SOHO) (T. Hoffman), C/2005 P1 (SOHO) (T. Scarmato) and C/2005 P2 (SOHO) (T. Scarmato). The last comet is the 1000^th SOHO comet (see news of 18 August 2005).
C/2005 O5 (SOHO) (T. Hoffman) is the 59th member of the Meyer group. Official SOHO comets: 1000. (MPEC 2005-Q03)

2005 August 17

A press release by NASA celebrates the finding of SOHOs 1000^th comet. It was discovered by T. Scarmato (Italy). The comet has not yet been announced officially. The comet is also featured in the latest SOHO Hotshot.
Further SOHO Kreutz comets: C/2005 N7 (SOHO) (R. Matson), C/2005 N8 (SOHO) (B. Zhou), C/2005 N9 (SOHO) (R. Matson), C/2005 N10 (SOHO) (B. Zhou) and C/2005 O3 (SOHO) (R. Matson). Official SOHO comets: 995. (MPEC 2005-Q03)

2005 August 13

The non-group comet found by R. Kracht (Elmshorn) in archival data of 1984, by the SOLWIND spacecraft has been announced officially. Comet C/1984 R1 (SOLWIND) has a perihelion distance of about 0.1 AU, was about 1 - 2^m and passed perihelion on Sep. 17, 1984. (IAUC 8583, subscription required, special page by R. Kracht)

2005 August 09

M. Meyer (Kelkheim) was able to detect comet P/2005 M1 (Christensen) in archival NEAT survey data of 1997. The comet will now probably receive the permanent designation 170P. (MPEC 2005-P41)
M. Mattiazzo (Australia) reports that CCD observations at the expected position of comet C/2005 K2 (LINEAR) show no cometary object down to about 16^m. The comet, which experienced a splitting of the nucleus in June 2005, may have disintegrated. (Comets Mailing List)

2005 August 03

New Discovery!: E. J. Christensen (Lunar and Planetary Laboratory) reports the discovery of a new comet in the course of the Siding Spring Survey on July 31, 2005. The 17.5^m comet C/2005 O2 (Christensen) will pass perihelion - according to the first and preliminary orbit - on Sep. 29, 2005, at about 3.3 AU. This is the 12^th comet discovery by the Siding Spring Survey. (IAUC 8579, subscription required, MPEC 2005-P21)

2005 August 01

New Discovery!: An apparently asteroidal object, discovered on July 27, 2005, in the course of the NEAT Survey has been found to be cometary by A. Fitzsimmons (Queen's University, Belfast). The first and preliminary orbit for the 19^m comet C/2005 O1 (NEAT) shows the perihelion already on May 23, 2005, at about 3.6 AU. This is the 50^th comet discovery by NEAT. (IAUC 8578, subscription required, MPEC 2005-P09)
The asteroidal object 2002 EX₁₂, discovered in March 2002, by NEAT, and later traced back until 1998 (Spacewatch) and 1989 (DSS), has been found to be cometary by B. D. Warner (Colorado Springs) and A. Fitzsimmons (Queen's University, Belfast). The now 15^m object shows no coma, but a short tail that was not visible in May. The orbit for comet P/2002 EX₁₂ (NEAT) shows the perihelion on Sep. 17, 2005, at about 0.6 AU. The period is about 4.2 years. This is NEATs 49^th comet. The comet will most likely be numbered 169P. (IAUC 8578, subscription required)
Further SOHO Kreutz comets: C/2005 M6 (SOHO) (S. Hönig), C/2005 M7 (SOHO) (X. Leprette), C/2005 M8 (SOHO) (R. Matson), C/2005 M9 (SOHO) (R. Matson), C/2005 M10 (SOHO) (K. Cernis) and C/2005 N6 (SOHO) (T. Chen). Official SOHO comets: 990. (MPEC 2005-O35, IAUC 8576, subscription required, IAUC 8577, subscription required)