News - February 2000
02/29/2000
- New Discovery!:
On Dec. 05, 1999, the Catalina Sky Survey
discovered an asteroidal object with a cometlike orbit. C. Hergenrother (Lunar and
Planetary Laboratory) was now able to detect a small coma. Pre-discovery images by LINEAR
of November were also identified. The 17m comet
P/1999 XN120 (Catalina) will pass its perihelion on May 01, 2000, in a
distance of about 3.3 AU. The orbital period is about 8.5 years. (IAUC 7370, MPEC
2000-D40)
- New Discovery!:
On Dec. 07, 1999, the LINEAR project discovered
an asteroidal object with a cometlike orbit. C. Hergenrother (Lunar and Planetary
Laboratory) was again able to detect a small coma. Pre-discovery images of the
18m comet by LINEAR of November were found, too. The 42nd comet
discovered by LINEAR - P/1999 XB69 (LINEAR) - passed its perihelion on
Feb. 17, 2000, in a distance of about 1.6 AU. The orbital period is about 9.5 years.
(IAUC 7370, MPEC 2000-D39)
- The yesterday by Darren Lewis discovered SOHO sungrazer (SOHO-106) has received an
orbit and a designation - C/2000 D1 (SOHO). (IAUC 7370, MPEC 2000-D38)
02/28/2000
- New Discovery!:
SOHO-106! Darren Lewis discovered a relatively bright sungrazer still far away from the sun
today in images of the C3 coronagraph. It is likely a member of the
Kreutz group of sungrazing
comets. The comet has not yet been announced officially by the CBAT.
(Sungrazer Homepage)
- New Discovery!:
It is SOHO-105! Today this comet was confirmed. It was also seen in LASCO C2 frames and
is likely a member of the Kreutz
group of sungrazing comets. The discovery was made independently by me and K. Cernis. The
comet has not yet been announced officially by the CBAT.
(Sungrazer Homepage)
02/26/2000
- Today at about 07:30 UT I discovered a probable sungrazing comet in data of the
C3 coronagraph. Independent sightings by P. Morel and K. Cernis were reported just
after my message to Doug Biesecker. The object still awaits confirmation, probably
on Monday. (Sungrazer Homepage)
02/18/2000
- New Discovery!:
Another apparently asteroidal object was discovered by the
LINEAR project on Feb. 02, 2000. J. G.
Ries noted the cometary appearance after posting of the object on the NEO
Confirmation Page. Pre-Discovery images by LINEAR of Jan. 28, 2000, were also
found. The 18m comet C/2000 CT54 (LINEAR) - the
41st comet found by LINEAR - will pass its perihelion on Jun. 18, 2001, at
about 3.1 AU. (IAUC 7368, MPEC 2000-D10)
- New Discovery!:
On Jan. 29, 2000, the LINEAR project
discovered an apparently asteroidal object whose cometary appearance was noted by
P. Kusnirak and D. Balam after posting on the NEO Confirmation Page. Pre-Discovery
images by LINEAR of Jan. 02, 2000, were also found. The 18m comet
C/2000 B4 (LINEAR) - the 40th comet found by LINEAR - has an
interesting orbit similar of a centaur asteroid. It will pass perihelion on Jun.
24, 2000, at about 6.8 AU and has an orbital period of about 77 years. (IAUC 7368,
MPEC 2000-D09)
- New Discovery!:
On Nov. 28, 1999, amateur Korado Korlevic (Visnjan, HRV) discovered an apparently
asteroidal object of 17m with a 0.41-m f/4.3 reflector + CCD. He noted a
slightly "fuzzy" appearance of the object - designated as minor planet
1999 WJ7 - in December. C. Hergenrother and S. Larson (Lunar and
Planetary Laboratory) were now able to confirm the cometary nature. Comet
P/1999 WJ7 (Korlevic) passed its perihelion on Feb. 15, 2000, at
about 3.2 AU and has an orbital period of about 10 years. (IAUC 7368, MPEC 2000-D08)
02/17/2000
-
Two Kreutz sungrazers, discovered in SOHO C3 images in 1999, have now received orbits and an
official designation. Comet C/1999 O1 (SOHO) was discovered by Terry Lovejoy on July
31, 1999, and comet C/1999 P3 (SOHO) by Darren Lewis on Aug. 03, 1999. Both comets
were not seen in images of the C2 coronagraph and showed no tail. (IAUC 7367, MPEC 2000-C59,
60)
02/13/2000
-
Together with the announcement of an orbit comets SOHO-100 through SOHO-104 have now
received official designations. Comets C/2000 C3 (SOHO) (former SOHO-102) and
C/2000 C4 (SOHO) (former SOHO-101) have identical orbits with a difference in
perihelion time of 0.6 days. Comets C/2000 C2 (SOHO) (former SOHO-100) and
C/2000 C5 (SOHO) (former SOHO-103) have nearly identical orbits (under the assumption
of the same perihelion distance for C/2000 C5 as of C/2000 C2) and may also be related to
each other. Only comet C/2000 C6 (SOHO) (former SOHO-104) is a member of the
Kreutz group. The brightness of
the five objects ranged between 5m and 8m. (IAUC 7364, MPEC
2000-C50...54)
02/09/2000
- New Discovery!:
Terry Lovejoy discovered SOHO-104, a sungrazing Kreutz fragment, on Feb. 09, 2000, in C3
frames. I spotted it when it already showed a short tail, 5 hours after Terry. It has still
some way to go, so it might become a nice small comet in the C3 and C2 frames.
(Sungrazer Homepage)
02/08/2000
- New Discovery!:
Michael Oates discovered a fourth object in SOHO C2 images of Feb. 07, which also seems
to be linked to the previous three. All four objects are moving on almost similar
trajectories. Orbital calculations are currently being carried out, however, due to the
very short arc for all objects of the "swarm", there may even be no orbital
solution at all. The objects got the following internal designation: SOHO-100 (discovered
by Kazimieras Cernis), SOHO-101 (by Maik Meyer), SOHO-102 (by Doug Biesecker) and
SOHO-103 (by Michael Oates). (Sungrazer Homepage,
ESA Press Release,
SOHO Hotshot,
e-mail)
02/06/2000
- New Discovery!:
Carl Hergenrother (Lunar and Planetary Laboratory) discovered a new comet on Feb.
04, 2000, with the 0.41-m Schmidt telescope at Catalina. Numerous observers were
able to confirm the cometary appearance of the 17m comet. Prediscovery
observations by LINEAR of Jan. 04, and 08, 2000, were also found. The first orbit
for comet P/2000 C1 (Hergenrother) shows a perihelion on Mar. 18, 2000, at
about 2.1 AU. The comet is a short period one with a P of about 6.7 years. (IAUC
7357, MPEC 2000-C30)
02/05/2000
-
20:30 UT In addition to my discovery I received the information that Doug
Biesecker has discovered a second object which moves almost on the same trajectory
as the object which was discovered by me! The object discovered by Doug Biesecker
in data from Feb. 04, leads the second one by about 14 hours.
-
09:00 UT I have just discovered another probable SOHO comet visible in the C2 data.
It is definitely no Kreutz comet. There is also a unconfirmed discovery of Kazimieras
Cernis (Lithuania) of another non Kreutz comet in SOHO C2 data from Feb. 03, 2000. More
about both discoveries later. These would be comets SOHO-101 and SOHO-100, respectively.
02/02/2000
- New Discovery!:
Another apparently asteroidal object, discovered on Jan. 27, 2000, by the
LINEAR project, was identified as a comet
after placement on the NEO Confirmation Page by P. Kusnirak (Ondrejov) and F.
Zoltowski (Edgewood, NM). The 39th LINEAR-comet P/2000 B3 (LINEAR)
is as bright as 18.5m. The first orbit indicates a perihelion on Feb. 14,
2000, at about 1.7 AU. It is a periodic comet with a P of about 8.0 years. Although
not far from earth the comet isn't very bright, so that it must be intrinsically
faint. (IAUC 7356, MPEC 2000-C06)
- New Discovery!:
On Jan. 29, 2000, the LINEAR project
discovered its 38th comet. Initially appearing asteroidal, the object
was identified as cometary after placement on the NEO Confirmation Page by P.
Kusnirak (Ondrejov) and M. Tichy and Z. Moravec (Klet). The first orbit for the
18.5m comet C/2000 B2 (LINEAR) indicates a perihelion on Nov. 10,
1999, at about 3.8 AU. (IAUC 7354, MPEC 2000-C04)
02/01/2000
- New Discovery!:
The comet I discovered yesterday simultaneously with Terry Lovejoy is SOHO-99. It is a very
faint one and faded while approaching the sun. The comet has not yet been announced
officially by the CBAT. (Sungrazer Homepage)