News - January 2008

2008 January 30

Further SOHO comets (all named SOHO):

Designation  Group   Discoverer     Notes
C/2007 Y8    Meyer   R. Kracht      84^th member of the Meyer group
C/2007 Y9    Kreutz  R. Matson
C/2007 Y10   Kreutz  B. Zhou
C/2008 A3    Marsden R. Kracht      30^th member of the Marsden group, = C/2002 R1?

Official SOHO comets: 1428 (MPEC 2008-B61)

2008 January 25

Further SOHO comets (all named SOHO):

Designation  Group   Discoverer     Notes
C/2007 X14   Kreutz  T. Hoffman
C/2007 X15   Meyer   H. Su          83^rd member of the Meyer group
C/2007 Y3    Kreutz  S. Yuan
C/2007 Y4    Marsden R. Kracht      29^rd member of the Marsden group, = C/2002 R4?
C/2007 Y5    Kreutz  A. Kubczak
C/2007 Y6    Kreutz  S. Yuan
C/2007 Y7    Kreutz  H. Su

Official SOHO comets: 1424 (MPEC 2008-B48, MPEC 2008-B49)

2008 January 25

Further SOHO comets (all named SOHO):

Designation  Group   Discoverer     Notes
C/2007 X6    Kreutz  M. Kusiak
C/2007 X7    Meyer   H. Su          82^nd member of the Meyer group
C/2007 X8    Kreutz  T. Hoffman
C/2007 X9    Kreutz  T. Hoffman
C/2007 X10   Kreutz  R. Matson, T. Hoffman
C/2007 X11   Kreutz  R. Kracht, H. Su
C/2007 X12   Kreutz  R. Matson
C/2007 X13   Kreutz  P. Collison

Official SOHO comets: 1417 (MPEC 2008-B45, MPEC 2008-B46)

2008 January 23

Further SOHO comets (all named SOHO):

Designation  Group   Discoverer     Notes
C/2007 W9    Kreutz  H. Su, M. Kusiak
C/2007 W10   Kreutz  T. Hoffman
C/2007 W11   Kreutz  R. Kracht
C/2007 W12   Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 X1    ---     M. Uchina
C/2007 X2    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 X3    Kreutz  R. Kracht
C/2007 X4    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 X5    Kreutz  H. Su

Official SOHO comets: 1409 (MPEC 2008-B35, MPEC 2008-B36)

2008 January 19

New Discovery!: An apparently asteroidal object, discovered on Jan. 13, 2007, in the course of the LINEAR survey has been found to be cometary after posting on the NEO Confirmation Page by J. Young (Table Mountain). The 19^m comet P/2008 A2 (LINEAR) will pass perihelion according to the first and preliminary orbit on Jun. 12, 2008, at about 1.3 AU. The period is about 5.7 years. This is the 183^rd comet for LINEAR. (IAUC 8912, subscription required, MPEC 2008-B18)

2008 January 18

New Discovery!: An apparently asteroidal object discovered in the course of the Mt. Lemmon on Jan. 11, 2008, was identified by T. Spahr (MPC) with an object discovered by the Spacewatch survey on Nov. 1 and 5, 2007, at that time designated 2007 VO₅₃. Prediscovery observations from Mt. Lemmon of Oct. 20, 2007, were also identified. J. Montani then reported that Spacewatch images taken on Jan. 13, by by M. Read show a coma for the about 20.5^m object. The orbit for comet C/2007 VO₅₃ (Spacewatch) shows perihelion on Apr. 26, 2010, at about 4.8 AU. This is the 39^th comet for the Spacewatch survey. (IAUC 8911, subscription required, MPEC 2008-B16)

2008 January 17

Further SOHO comets (all named SOHO):

Designation  Group   Discoverer     Notes
C/2007 V11   Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 V12   Kreutz  S. Yuan
C/2007 V13   Kreutz  R. Kracht
C/2007 V14   Kreutz  R. Kracht
C/2007 W4    Kreutz  M. Mazzucato
C/2007 W5    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 W6    Kreutz  R. Kracht
C/2007 W7    Kreutz  B. Zhou
C/2007 W8    Kreutz  H. Su

Official SOHO comets: 1400 (MPEC 2008-B09, MPEC 2008-B10)

2008 January 16

Further SOHO comets (all named SOHO):

Designation  Group   Discoverer     Notes
C/2007 V3    Kreutz  R. Matson
C/2007 V4    Kreutz  A. Kubczak     
C/2007 V5    Kreutz  R. Kracht
C/2007 V6    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 V7    Kreutz  R. Kracht
C/2007 V8    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 V9    Kreutz  R. Matson
C/2007 V10   Meyer   Z. Jin         81^st member of the Meyer group

Official SOHO comets: 1391 (MPEC 2008-A75, MPEC 2008-A76)

2008 January 15

Further SOHO comets (all named SOHO):

Designation  Group   Discoverer     Notes
C/2007 S11   ---     R. Kracht
C/2007 U7    Meyer   H. Su          80^th member of the Meyer group
C/2007 U8    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 U9    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 U10   Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 U11   Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 U12   Kreutz  T. Hoffman
C/2007 U13   Kreutz  M. Uchina

Official SOHO comets: 1383 (MPEC 2008-A71, MPEC 2008-A72)

2008 January 12

Further SOHO comets (all named SOHO):

Designation  Group   Discoverer     Notes
C/2007 T10   Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 T11   Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 T12   Kreutz  A. Kubczak
C/2007 T13   Kreutz  M. Uchina
C/2007 T14   Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 U3    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 U4    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 U5    Kreutz  M. Uchina
C/2007 U6    Kreutz  A. Kubczak

Official SOHO comets: 1375 (MPEC 2008-A50, MPEC 2008-A51)

2008 January 11

New Discovery!: R. H. McNaught reports another discovery of a new comet on Jan. 10, 2008, in the course of the Siding Spring Survey. After posting on the NEO Confirmation Page J. Young (Table Mountain) and E. Guido and G. Sostero (remotely near Mayhill) , NM, U.S.A.) were able to confirm the cometary nature of the 15^m object. A visual observation by A. Hale shows the comet between 13.5-14^m. The first and preliminary orbit for comet C/2008 A1 (McNaught) indicates perihelion on Nov. 3, 2008, at about 1.5 AU. The comet might become as bright as 9^m but will mainly be a southern hemisphere object. This is the 44^th comet for the Siding Spring Survey and the 40^th for McNaught. (IAUC 8909, subscription required, MPEC 2008-A48)

Further SOHO comets (all named SOHO):

Designation  Group   Discoverer     Notes
C/2007 S5    Kreutz  R. Matson
C/2007 S6    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 S7    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 S8    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 S9    Kreutz  H. Su
C/2007 S10   Kreutz  B. Zhou
C/2007 T7    Kreutz  R. Matson
C/2007 T8    Kreutz  B. Zhou, T. Hoffman, R. Matson
C/2007 T9    Kreutz  R. Matson

Official SOHO comets: 1366 (MPEC 2008-A40, MPEC 2008-A41)

2008 January 2

New Discovery!: R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a new comet on Dec. 31, 2007, in the course of the Siding Spring Survey. The comet was confirmed by D. M. Burton (Australian National University, ANU 1.0-m reflector at Siding Spring). After posting on the NEO Confirmation Page C. Jacques and E. Pimentel (Belo Horizonte) were also able to confirm the cometary nature of the 18.5^m object. The first orbit for comet C/2007 Y2 (McNaught) indicates perihelion on May 18, 2008, at about 4.1 AU. This is the 43^rd comet for the Siding Spring Survey and the 39^th for McNaught. (IAUC 8908, subscription required, MPEC 2008-A06)