News - December 2001

12/21/2001

Re-Discovery!: R. Huber (Lincoln Laboratory, MIT) reported that an object discovered on Dec. 07, 2001, by the LINEAR project was found to be diffuse on Dec. 17. Prediscovery images by LINEAR back to Sep. 10, were also found. Images by G. Hug (Eskridge, KS) showed the 19^m comet also to be diffuse. The first orbit for comet P/2001 X3 (LINEAR) showed a perihelion on Dec. 30, 2001, at about 1.6 AU. The comet is of short period with a P of about 6.4 years. Then C. Hergenrother (Lunar and Planetary Laboratory) and K. Muraoka (Kochi, Japan) suggested a link between the lost comet 11D/Tempel-Swift which was confirmed by S. Nakano (Sumoto, Japan) at the MPC. The comet was originally discovered in 1869 by W. L. Tempel and rediscovered by L. Swift in 1880 and last seen in 1908. Despite several predictions the comet was not seen at the following apparitions. More about the comets history can be found at Gary Kronk's Cometography page for 11D/Tempel-Swift. (IAUC 7778, 7779, MPEC 2001-Y15)
More observations of comet C/2001 W2 (BATTERS) corrected the period to 76.1 years. (MPEC 2001-Y10)
Additional astrometry for comet P/2001 X2 (Scotti) leads to a first and very uncertain first orbit. The comet will pass perihelion in August 2002, at about 1.95 AU. It is of short period with a P of about 7.2 years. (IAUC 7777, MPEC 2001-Y14)

12/16/2001

According to observations by several visual and CCD observers comet C/2001 W2 (BATTERS) underwent a minor outburst in brightness on Dec. 7, 2001. The amplitude was about 1.5^m increasing the visual brightness to about 10^m - 11^m. The outburst lasted only a short time and the comet seems to have reached its pre-outburst level by now. (Reports by S. Yoshida, R. Bouma, and P. Manteca in the Comets Mailing List).

12/15/2001

New Discovery!: J. V. Scotti (Lunar and Planetary Laboratory) reports his discovery of a new comet on Dec. 14, 2001, in the course of the SPACEWATCH project. The 18.5^m comet 2001 X2 was confirmed by J. Ticha, M. Tichy, and P. Jelinek (Klet). No orbit is available yet. A search ephemeris can be found on the NEO Confirmation Page. This is the 18^th comet found by SPACEWATCH. (IAUC 7775)

12/14/2001

New Discovery!: R. Huber (Lincoln Laboratory, MIT) reports the discovery of a new comet on Dec. 13, 2001, in the course of the LINEAR project. The 14.5^m comet C/2001 X1 (LINEAR) was confirmed by R. Stoss and P. Geffert (Starkenburg Sternwarte, Heppenheim) and A. C. Gilmore (Mount John Obs., New Zealand). The preliminary orbital elements indicate a perihelion on Dec. 30, 2001, at about 1.7 AU. The comet moves south and might become as bright as 13^m in January 2002. This is LINEARs 69^th new comet discovery. (IAUC 7774, MPEC 2001-X55)

12/11/2001

Dr. Konrad Dennerl (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany) informs about scheduled X-ray observations of comet C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR) with the XMM/Newton spacecraft from 2001, Dec. 13, 20:24 UT until 2001, Dec. 14, 14:00 UT. Who happens to observe the comet should contact Dr. Dennerl at kod@mpe.mpg.de. (MPML, COML)

12/09/2001

Pepe Manteca (Observatorio de Begues, near Barcelona) reports that comet 51P/Harrington has split. He observed two components of magnitude 16.4^m and 16.6^m, respectively. At the 1994 apparition this comet already showed three components, denoted A, B and C. The now observed components are part A and a new one, denoted D. Its perihelion time is about 0.006 days later than A. The comet is brighter than predicted. Images can be found here. (Comets Mailing List, IAUC 7769)
Two asteroidal objects in cometary and near-earth orbits were discovered on Dec. 06, 2001, by LINEAR and on Dec. 07, 2001, by NEAT. The asteroids 2001 XQ and 2001 XU have periods of 6.9 years and 4.9 years, respectively. (MPEC 2001-X24, -X28)

12/02/2001

Updated orbital elements for comet C/2001 W2 (BATTERS) indicate this comet to be of intermediate period with a P of about 67 years. (MPEC 2001-X10)
Another five SOHO comets received orbits and designations: C/2001 V3 (SOHO) and C/2001 V4 (SOHO) were detected by X. Zhou, C/2001 (SOHO) by A. Mimeev, C/2001 W3 (SOHO) by X. Zhou and C/2001 W4 (SOHO) by X. Leprette. The official SOHO score is now at 376 comets. (MPEC 2001-X02)