News - January 2006
2006 January 30
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New Discovery!:
R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a new comet on Jan. 27, 2006, in the course of the
Siding Spring Survey. The first and preliminary
patabolic orbit for the 18m comet C/2006 B1 (McNaught) indicates
perihelion already on Nov. 03, 2005, at about 3.0 AU. This is the 15th comet for
the Siding Spring Survey and the 23rd for McNaught.
(IAUC 8665, subscription required,
MPEC 2006-B86)
2006 January 28
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E. J. Christensen (Mt. Lemmon) reports his recovery of comet P/2000 C1 (Hergenrother)
on Jan. 06, 07, and 27, 2006. The 20.5m object showed no sign of cometary
activity. The correction to the prediction is -0.24 day. Comet P/2006 A3 (Hergenrother)
will pass perihelion on Nov. 06, 2006, at about 2.1 AU.
(IAUC 8664, subscription required,
MPEC 2006-B68)
2006 January 25
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New Discovery!:
An apparently asteroidal object, discovered on Jan. 21, 2006, in the course of the
Catalina Sky Survey and posted on the
NEO Confirmation Page, has been reported as cometary by several follow-up observers
including J. Young (Table Mountain), J. E. McGaha (Tucson), and J. Ticha and M. Tichy
(Klet). E. Christensen (Lunar and Planetary Laboratory) reports that the discovery
and follow-up images do not look cometary, though the object's images obtained
by E. C. Beshore from Mt. Lemmon display a small coma. The first and preliminary orbit
for comet C/2006 A2 (Catalina) shows perihelion already on Aug. 21, 2005, at about
5.6 AU. The comet's designation was inadvertently assigned to the wrong half-month (A instead
of B), but the designation will remain as given. This is Catalina's 28th comet
discovery.
(IAUC 8662, subscription required,
IAUC 8663, subscription required,
MPEC 2006-B48)
22 January 2006
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Further astrometry showed comet 2005 Y2 to be of short period. Comet P/2005 Y2 (McNaught)
passed perihelion already on Dec. 05, 2004, at about 3.2 AU. The period is about 14.2 years.
(MPEC 2006-B18)
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Professional observations of Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) were made during 20:40 - 23:00 UT on
January 20, 2005. To help interpret these observations, it is wished to obtain amateur
images of the comet taken within a day on either side of the above period. Images taken
during the observing period itself would be particularly valuable. If anyone has suitable
images, please get in touch with geraint.h.jones[at]gmail.com of the Max Planck Institute for
Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau. The contribution of everyone
with whom we collaborate will of course be acknowledged in any resulting publication.
(Comets Mailing List)
16 January 2006
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J. A. Farrell (Jemez Springs) reports his detection of a fragment of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann
on Jan. 06, to 09, 2006. It was with 19m about 3m fainter than the
primary fragment. Most likely it is identical with fragment B of the 1995-96 apparition
according to a linkage by Z. Sekanina (JPL).
(IAUC 8659, subscription required)
11 January 2006
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An apparently asteroidal object, discovered on Dec. 28, 2005, by the
LINEAR survey and designated 2005 YQ127
has been found to be cometary by M. Mannucci, N. Montigiani and S. Riccetti (Florence) on Jan
06, 2006. A number of follow-up observations were then obtained by several observers
confirming the cometary nature of the 17m object. Comet
P/2005 YQ127 (LINEAR) passed perihelion already on Nov. 03, 2005, at about
1.9 AU. The period is about 7.2 years. This is LINEARs 165th comet discovery.
(CBET 361, subscription required,
MPEC 2006-A57)
2006 January 10
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Latest observations of the cometary Centaur (80558) 2000 EC98 now indicate
a brightness of about 14-15m with an up to 1' coma. It will be interesting to see
if the brightness will rise further. The object was observed already visually by S. Yoshida,
despite being still more than 13 AU from earth. Further close monitoring is strongly
recommended. An image by R. Ligustri can be found
here.
(Comets Mailing List)
2006 January 7
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New Discovery!:
R. Hill reports the discovery of a new 17m comet in the course of the
Catalina Sky Survey on Jan. 06, 2006. T. Spahr
(MPC) was then able to identify this comet with an object originally found on Dec. 04, 2005,
by the LONEOS survey
and then designated as minor planet 2005 XA54. With additional astrometry by
LINEAR the orbit for comet P/2005 XA54 (LONEOS-Hill) shows perihelion
on Mar. 08, 2006, at about 1.8 AU. The period is about 15.1 years. This is the
36th comet discovery for LONEOS and the 27th for Catalina.
(IAUC 8656, subscription required,
MPEC 2006-A26)
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Y.-J. Choi and P. R. Weissman (JPL) report the detection of a coma for the Centaur object
(80558) 2000 EC98 on Dec. 30, 2005, with the Palomar 5-m reflector. This
was confirmed with images taken by Choi on Jan. 01, and by D. Polishook on images of Jan. 02,
2006, at Wise Observatory. The object, predicted to be at 20-21m, is now about
17.5m with a 20" coma. It was originally discovered on Mar. 03, 2000, by
the Spacewatch survey. Perihelion occurs
Apr. 24, 2015, at about 5.9 AU. The period is about 35.3 years. This is the 32nd
comet discovery by Spacewatch.
(IAUC 8656, subscription required,
MPEC 2000-E64)
2006 January 5
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New Discovery!:
Grzegorz Pojmanski (Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory) reports his discovery of
a new comet on Jan. 01, and 04, 2006, in the course of the
ASAS survey. He was able to
detect further ASAS images of Dec. 29, 2005, and K. Cernis reported a possible
comet in images of the SWAN instrument aboard the SOHO spacecraft that showed the same
motion as the ASAS object on Dec 25, and 29, 2005, and Jan. 01, 2006. S. Roland (Montevideo)
did also confirm the 12m comet. According to the first preliminary orbit comet
C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski) will
pass perihelion on Feb. 22, 2006, at about 0.57 AU. The comet will become visible for
mid-European observers at the beginning of March, maybe as bright as 7m in the
morning sky. Images of the second ASAS comet discovery can be found on their
special alert page.
(IAUC 8653, subscription required,
IAUC 8654, subscription required)
2006 January 1
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New Discovery!:
R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a new comet on Dec. 30, 2005, in the course of the
Siding Spring Survey. The first and preliminary
patabolic orbit for the 18m comet C/2005 Y2 (McNaught) indicates
perihelion on Jul. 25, 2006, at about 3.7 AU. This is the 14th comet for the
Siding Spring Survey and the 22nd for McNaught.
(IAUC 8652, subscription required,
MPEC 2006-A01)
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Periodic comet 71P/Clark has been recovered by J. Pittichova (Mauna Kea), K. Kadota
(Ageo), R. A. Kowalski (Catalina), and E. Guido (New Mexico Skies) between Dec. 22, and 30,
2005. The 17.5m comet will reach perihelion on Jun. 6, 2006, at about 1.6 AU. It
may then reach 11m, but will be situated at southern declinations. E. Guido kindly
provided an recovery image of the comet
of December 29.
(IAUC 8652, subscription required,
MPEC 2005-Y59)