News - May 2000

05/31/2000

SOHO-116 to -119 have received orbits and designations: C/2000 J5 (SOHO), C/2000 K3 (SOHO), C/2000 K4 (SOHO) and C/2000 K5 (SOHO). All are members of the Kreutz group. (IAUC 7433, MPEC 2000-K34...37)

05/30/2000

New Discovery!: While using the automated search algorithm D. Hammer found a sungrazing comet in C2 and C3 data of Nov. 04, 1998, - SOHO-121! The comet has not yet been announced officially by the CBAT.
Addendum: SOHO-120, discovered on May 27, was also detected independently by Michael Boschat. ( Sungrazer Homepage)

05/29/2000

Observations of asteroidal objects of May and June/July 1999 and May 2000 by LINEAR were linked with the new discovered comet C/2000 K1 = 1999 LW₂₄ = 1999 NF₁₃ (LINEAR). The refined orbit indicates a perihelion in December 1999 at about 6.3 AU. (MPEC 2000-K29)

05/27/2000

New Discovery!: The LINEAR project discovered two new comets (LINEARs 47^th and 48^th comets) on May 26, 2000. Comet C/2000 K1 (LINEAR) is about 15^m and passed its perihelion at the end of January 2000, at about 6.3 AU. Comet C/2000 K2 (LINEAR) is about 17^m and will pass its perihelion in October 2000, at about 2.5 AU. Both comets won't become much brighter. (IAUC 7430, 7431, MPEC 2000-K26,27)
New Discovery!: Yet another two probable Kreutz sungrazers were discovered by Michael Boschat and Michael Oates in C2 data of May 25/26, 2000, (SOHO-119) and by Michael Oates and Xavier Leprette in C2 data of May 27, 2000 (SOHO-120). The comets have not yet been announced officially by the CBAT. (e-mail, Sungrazer Homepage)

05/22/2000

New Discovery!: Another two probable Kreutz sungrazers were discovered by Michael Oates in C2 data of May 11, and 22, 2000. These are comets SOHO-117 and SOHO-118. The comets have not yet been announced officially by the CBAT. (Sungrazer Homepage)

05/20/2000

New Discovery!: SOHO-116, a probable Kreutz comet, was discovered by Michael Boschat in C2 images beginning fom May 19, 2000, 21:26 UT. The comet has not yet been announced officially by the CBAT. (Sungrazer Homepage)

05/19/2000

SOHO-115 received an orbit, confirming the Kreutz group membership, and the designation C/2000 J4 (SOHO). (IAUC 7426, MPEC 2000-K08)

05/16/2000

The LONEOS program discovered another unusual asteroidal object on Apr. 30, 2000. The 17.5^m asteroid 2000 HD₇₄ moves on a short periodic cometary orbit. The perihelion distance is about 1.2 AU which will be reached in July then observable only from southern latitudes. The object has an orbital period of about 5 years. (MPEC 2000-J56)

05/15/2000

New Discovery!: Michael Oates and Xavier Leprette discovered SOHO-115 in C2 images of May 15. It is probably a Kreutz comet. The comet has not yet been announced officially by the CBAT. (e-mail, Sungrazer Homepage, BAA Comet Section)
An asteroidal object observed in 1995 by Spacewatch as 1995 XH₅ was rediscovered by LONEOS at the end of April 2000. Followup observations of the now designated asteroid 2000 HR₂₄ revealed an unusual orbit. The object moves on a low eccentric orbit (e=0.17), with a perihelion distance of about 4.1 AU and an orbital period of about 11.1 years. The 18^m object appears completely stellar. (MPEC 2000-J50)

05/11/2000

The remaining two recently discovered SOHO comets received an orbit and the designations C/1999 C2 (SOHO) and C/2000 J3 (SOHO), respectively. (IAUC 7422, MPEC 2000-J43,44)

05/10/2000

New Discovery!: Another Kreutz sungrazer, SOHO-114, was discovered by K. Cernis and M. Boschat in LASCO/C3 images of May 09. The comet was also visible in C2 images of May 10. This is the 100^th Kreutz fragment discovered by SOHO. The comet has not yet been announced officially by the CBAT. (Sungrazer Homepage)
The comet discovered by M. Oates on May 07, (SOHO-112) has received an orbit and the designation C/1999 J2 (SOHO). It is no Kreutz comet. (IAUC 7418, MPEC 2000-J32)
The LONEOS program discovered an asteroidal object on Apr. 29, 2000, which travels on a cometary, retrograde orbit. The asteroid 2000 HE₄₆ is about 18^m and has an orbital period of 108 years with a perihelion distance of about 2.5 AU. (MPEC 2000-J34)

05/09/2000

New Discovery!: On May 04, 2000, the LONEOS program discovered an apparently asteroidal 19^m object (observer W. D. Ferris) which exhibited a short tail on follow-up observations by M. Hicks (Kitt Peak) after posting the object on the NEO Confirmation Page. Comet C/2000 J1 (Ferris) will pass its perihelion on May 17, 2000, at about 2.5 AU. (IAUC 7416, MPEC 2000-J30)
New Discovery!: Doug Biesecker discovered another Kreutz sungrazer in archival SOHO/LASCO data using a dedicated search software. SOHO-113 is visible in C3 images of Feb. 06, 1999, about 24h hours before SOHO-58. The comet has not yet been announced officially by the CBAT. (Sungrazer Homepage)

05/08/2000

New Discovery!: Michael Oates discovered SOHO-112 in data of the LASCO/C2 coronagraph of May 07. The comet is definitely no Kreutz comet. Still there are some data missing. After filling the data gaps positional measurements will lead to an orbit for this faint comet. The comet has not yet been announced officially by the CBAT. (Sungrazer Homepage)

05/01/2000

The 111^th SOHO comet which was discovered on Apr. 24, 2000, was one of the brightest SOHO Kreutz fragments and displayed an impressive tail. The maximum brightness exceeded 1^m. Comet C/2000 H2 (SOHO) was independently detected by T. Lovejoy, M. Boschat, M. Oates and R. Gorelli. (IAUC 7412, MPEC 2000-J05)
New Discovery!: On Apr. 26, 2000, the LINEAR project discovered an apparently asteroidal object which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Observers at Klet, Ondrejov and Modra noted the cometary appearance of the 18^m object. Comet C/2000 H1 (LINEAR) is the 46^th comet discovered by LINEAR. It passed its perihelion on Apr. 23, 2000, at about 3.7 AU. (IAUC 7410, MPEC 2000-H40)
New Discovery!: On Apr. 04, 2000, the LINEAR project discovered an apparently asteroidal object which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Several follow-up observers noted the cometary appearance of the 17.5^m object. Comet C/2000 G2 (LINEAR) is the 45^th comet discovered by LINEAR. It passed its perihelion on Feb. 06, 2000, at about 2.7 AU. It moves on an elliptical orbit with a P of about 54 years. (IAUC 7411, MPEC 2000-J02)