News - July 2007

2007 July 27

Recovery!: L. Buzzi and F. Luppi (Varese) report their recovery of comet P/1998 U2 on Jul. 26, 2007. The 19.5^m comet was confirmed one night later by P. Birtwhistle (Great Shefford). Comet P/2007 O2 (Mueller) passed perihelion already on Jul. 8, 2007, at about 2.0 AU, with a correction to the predicted perihelion time (2007 Comet Handbook and MPC 51823) of +0.3 day. The period is about 8.7 years. (IAUC 8859, subscription required)

2007 July 19

Further astrometry indicates the short periodic nature of the newly discovered comet P/2007 N1 (McNaught). It will pass perihelion on Sep. 17, 2007, at about 2.0 AU. The period is about 5.9 years. (MPEC 2007-O29)

2007 July 18

New Discovery!: An apparently asteroidal object, discovered on July 11, 2007, by Quanzhi Ye (Guangzhou, China), in the course of the Lulin Sky Survey on images taken by Chi Sheng Lin (Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, Jung-Li, Taiwan) has been found to show slight cometary activity on images taken by J. Young (Table Mountain) after posting on the NEO Confirmation. The first orbit for the 18.5^m comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) indicates perihelion on Jan. 07, 2009, at about 1.2 AU. The comet may reach binocular brightness in early 2009. (IAUC 8857, subscription required, MPEC 2007-O05)
New Discovery!: An apparently asteroidal object, discovered on July 17, 2007, in the course of the LINEAR survey has been found to be cometary after posting on the NEO Confirmation Page by L. Donato, E. Guido, A. Lepardo, and G. Sostero (Remanzacco), G. Lombardi, E. Pettarin and F. Piani (Farra d'Isonzo), P. Birtwhistle (Great Shefford), M. Pietschnig (Alter Satzberg) and V. S. Casulli (Colleverde di Guidonia). Prediscovery observations by LINEAR of July 15, and 16, 2007, were also found. The 17^m comet C/2007 O1 (LINEAR) already passed perihelion according to the first and preliminary orbit on July 01, 2007, at about 2.9 AU. This is the 179^th comet for LINEAR. (IAUC 8858, subscription required, MPEC 2007-O10)
IAUC 8858 reports that the recovery of comet P/2002 O5 = P/2007 N2 (NEAT) was accidental and that "the other observers provided 'confirming' astrometry as a result of a surprise posting of an ephemeris on the 'NEOCP' webpage, unbeknownst to the Central Bureau." (IAUC 8858, subscription required)

2007 July 16

Recovery!: Comet P/2002 O5 has been rediscovered independently by LINEAR, F. Fratev and E. Mihaylova (Plana) and G. Lombardi and E. Pettarin (Farra d'Isonzo). The 16^m comet P/2007 N2 (NEAT) is very diffuse and its difference to the prediction in MPC 51823 and in the 2007 Comet Handbook is Delta(T) = -0.36 day. It was recovered at its closest aproach to Earth with about 0.2 AU. Perihelion will occur on July 25, at about 1.2 AU.
S. Yoshida points out that this comet will be only about 30" away from comet C/2005 L3 (McNaught) which will have about the same brightness on July 20, 2007, at 22:00 UT. (IAUC 8856, subscription required, Comets Mailing List)

2007 July 12

New Discovery!: R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a new comet on July 10, 2007, in the course of the Siding Spring Survey. After posting the object on the NEO Confirmation Page A. C. Gilmore (Mt. John) and S. Casulli (Vallemare di Borbona) were able to confirm the cometary nature of the 17.5^m object. The first and very preliminary orbit for comet C/2007 N1 (McNaught) shows perihelion on Sep. 7, 2007, at about 2.3 AU. The comet is likely of short period. This is the 37^th comet for the Siding Spring Survey and the 36^th for McNaught. (IAUC 8855, subscription required, MPEC 2007-N29)
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory announced that the 2007 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets is being divided among: John Broughton (Reedy Creek, Qld., Australia) for C/2006 OF₂, David H. Levy (Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.) for P/2006 T1 and Terry Lovejoy (Thornlands, Qld., Australia) for C/2007 E2 and C/2007 K5. (IAUC 8854, subscription required)

2007 July 03

Comet P/2007 J7 received the permanent designation 188P/LINEAR-Mueller.