News - February 2007

2007 February 26

On Feb. 24, 2007, M. Meyer (Limburg) reported precovery observations of comet P/2007 B3 (Garradd) he found in DSS images taken on May 31, and June 03, 1975, and Feb. 26, 1996, at Siding Spring. Shortly after that G. V. Williams (MPC) was then able to identify the comet with the object X/1977 O1 which was reported in IAUC 3247 by R. D. Eberst almost one year after the plates were taken with the U. K. Schmidt at Siding Spring. (MPEC 2007-D71)

2007 February 22

New Discovery!: An apparently asteroidal object, discovered on Feb. 20, 2007, in the course of the LINEAR survey has been found to be cometary after posting on the NEO Confirmation Page by C. Jacques and E. Pimentel (Belo Horizonte), J. E. McGaha (Tucson) and R. E. Hill (Mount Lemmon). The 18.5^m comet C/2007 D3 (LINEAR) will pass perihelion according to the first and preliminary orbit (with the help of prediscovery obervations by LINEAR of Jan. 25, 2007) on May 26, 2007, at about 5.2 AU. This is the 175^th comet for LINEAR. (IAUC 8810, subscription required, MPEC 2007-D30)
Additional astrometry for comet C/2007 D1 (LINEAR) lead to a revised orbital solution. Perihelion occurs on Aug. 23, 2007, at about 8.8 AU. (MPEC 2007-D29)

2007 February 20

New Discovery!: An apparently asteroidal object discovered on Feb. 17, 2007, in the course of the Spacewatch survey has been found to be cometary after posting on the NEO Confirmation Page by M. Tichy and J. Ticha (Klet) and L. Buzzi (Varese). Prediscovery observations by Spacewatch of Jan. 29, 2007, were found, too. The orbit for the 19.5^m comet C/2007 D2 (Spacewatch) shows perihelion on Nov. 25, 2006, at about 1.3 AU. This is the 38^th comet for Spacewatch. (IAUC 8809, subscription required, MPEC 2007-D27)

Further SOHO comets (all named SOHO):

Designation  Group   Discoverer     Notes
C/2006 X11   Kreutz  R. Matson
C/2006 Y3    Kreutz  S. Yuan
C/2006 Y4    Kreutz  R. Kracht
C/2006 Y5    Kreutz  T. Hoffman
C/2006 Y6    Kreutz  B. Zhou
C/2006 Y7    Kreutz  T. Hoffman
C/2006 Y8    Kreutz  R. Kracht
C/2006 Y9    Kreutz  M. Mazzucato

Official SOHO comets: 1244. (MPEC 2007-D16, MPEC 2007-D17)

2007 February 19

New Discovery!: An apparently asteroidal object, discovered on Feb. 17, 2007, in the course of the LINEAR survey, has been found to be cometary after it was placed on the NEO Confirmation Page by numerous observers, including J. Ticha and M. Tichy (Klet), A. C. Gilmore (Mt. John), G. Hug (Eskridge), J. G. Ries (McDonald Observatory), and L. Donato, V. Gonano, E. Guido, and G. Sostero (Remanzacco). The 17^m comet C/2007 D1 (LINEAR) passed perihelion - according to the first and preliminary orbit - on Feb. 17, 2007, at about 2.6 AU. This is the 174^th comet for the LINEAR survey. (IAUC 8808, subscription required, MPEC 2007-D22)

2007 February 17

Further astrometry confirmed the suspicion that comet 2007 C1 is of short period. P/2007 C1 (Christensen) will pass perihelion on Mar. 7, 2007, at about 2.0 AU. The period is about 6.5 years. (MPEC 2007-D09)

2007 February 13

New Discovery!: An apparent asteroidal object, discovered on Feb. 09, 2007, in the course of the Catalina Sky Survey has been found to be cometary after posting on the NEO Confirmation Page by H.-C. Lin, C.-S. Lin, and Q.-z. Ye (Lulin), G. Sostero and E. Guido (Remanzacco) and D. T. Durig and W. R. O'Farrell (Sewanee). Numerous prediscovery observation were then found: Oct. 19, and Nov. 14, 2006 (by Catalina), Nov. 15, 2006, by Spacewatch, Dec. 01, 2006, by the Mt. Lemmon Survey and Jan. 24, 2007, by LINEAR. The 19^m comet P/2007 C2 (Catalina) will pass perihelion on Sep. 04, 2007, at about 3.8 AU. This is the 45^th comet for Catalina. (IAUC 8806, subscription required, MPEC 2007-C54)

2007 February 11

New Discovery!: E. J. Christensen reports his discovery of a new comet on Feb. 09, 2007, in the course of the Catalina Sky Survey. After posting on the NEO Confirmation Page G. Sostero and E. Guido (Remanzacco) were able to confirm the cometary nature of the 19^m object. According to the first and preliminary orbit comet C/2007 C1 (Christensen) will pass perihelion on Jun. 03, 2007, at about 1.4 AU. The comet is most likely of short period. This is the 44^th comet for Catalina and the 19^th for Christensen. (IAUC 8805, subscription required, MPEC 2007-C50)

2007 February 10

Further SOHO comets (all named SOHO):

Designation  Group   Discoverer     Notes
C/2006 X3    Kreutz  B. Zhou  
C/2006 X4    Kreutz  T. Scarmato
C/2006 X5    Kreutz  M. Meyer
C/2006 X6    Kreutz  X. Gao
C/2006 X7    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2006 X8    Kreutz  B. Zhou
C/2006 X9    Kreutz  T. Hoffman, R. Kracht 
C/2006 X10   Meyer   R. Kracht      73^rd member of the Meyer group

Official SOHO comets: 1236. (MPEC 2007-C40, MPEC 2007-C41)

2007 February 06

Further astrometry of comet 2006 B3 confirmed the suspected short-period orbit. P/2006 B3 (Garradd) will pass its perihelion on Mar. 17, 2008, at about 4.3 AU. The period is about 10.2 years. (MPEC 2007-C08)
New permanent short period comet designations: P/1986 W1 = 2007 A1 = 184P/Lovas and P/2001 Q2 = 2007 A3 = 185P/Petriew. (IAUC 8803, subscription required,