News - January 2006

2006 January 30

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 18^m comet C/2006 B1 (McNaught) indicates perihelion already on Nov. 03, 2005, at about 3.0 AU. This is the 15^th comet for the Siding Spring Survey and the 23^rd for McNaught. (IAUC 8665, subscription required, MPEC 2006-B86)

2006 January 28

E. J. Christensen (Mt. Lemmon) reports his recovery of comet P/2000 C1 (Hergenrother) on Jan. 06, 07, and 27, 2006. The 20.5^m 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

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 28^th comet discovery. (IAUC 8662, subscription required, IAUC 8663, subscription required, MPEC 2006-B48)

22 January 2006

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)
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

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 19^m about 3^m 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

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 17^m 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 165^th comet discovery. (CBET 361, subscription required, MPEC 2006-A57)

2006 January 10

Latest observations of the cometary Centaur (80558) 2000 EC₉₈ now indicate a brightness of about 14-15^m 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

New Discovery!: R. Hill reports the discovery of a new 17^m 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 36^th comet discovery for LONEOS and the 27^th for Catalina. (IAUC 8656, subscription required, MPEC 2006-A26)
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 20-21^m, is now about 17.5^m 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 32^nd comet discovery by Spacewatch. (IAUC 8656, subscription required, MPEC 2000-E64)

2006 January 5

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 12^m 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 7^m 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

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 18^m comet C/2005 Y2 (McNaught) indicates perihelion on Jul. 25, 2006, at about 3.7 AU. This is the 14^th comet for the Siding Spring Survey and the 22^nd for McNaught. (IAUC 8652, subscription required, MPEC 2006-A01)
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 17.5^m comet will reach perihelion on Jun. 6, 2006, at about 1.6 AU. It may then reach 11^m, 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)