News - September 2003

2003 Sep 30

Comet 104P/Kowal was recovered by A. E. Gleason, A. S. Descour and J. V. Scotti with the Spacewatch telescope. The 21^m comet was observed on Aug. 31, Sep. 21, and 28, 2003. The comet will pass perihelion in May 2004, and is expected to get as bright as about 15^m. This is the third observed apparition of 104P. (IAUC 8211, MPEC 2003-S96)
Comet C/2003 R1 (LINEAR) is of intermediate period. More astrometry lead to a refined solution with a P of about 90 years. (e-mail, OAA CS, MPEC 2003-S101)

2003 Sep 29

New Discovery!: On Sep. 27, 2003, the LINEAR survey found a new comet which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Follow-up observer J. Young (Table Mountain) confirmed the the cometary nature of the 19^m object. The first orbit for comet C/2003 S3 (LINEAR) shows a perihelion at about 8.2 AU on Sep. 19, 2003. This is the 119^th comet discovery by LINEAR. (IAUC 8211, MPEC 2003-S85)

2003 Sep 28

The possible disintegration of comet C/2002 O7 (LINEAR) seems to have been confirmed on CCD images taken by M. Mattiazzo. They show an irregular elongated patch of light at the predicted position, something typical for such comets and comparable to comets C/2002 O4 (Hönig) and C/2002 O6 (SWAN). (Comets Mailing List)

2003 Sep 26

Recent negative observations of comet C/2002 O7 (LINEAR) suggest that this comet has either not survived its perihelion passage or has faded considerably. The comet was predicted to have about 7^m by now but was already fainter than the prediction prior perihelion. It is now a southern hemisphere object. (Comets Mailing List)

2003 Sep 25

New Discovery!: On Sep 24, the NEAT survey discovered another new comet which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Several follow-up observers, including R. Apitzsch (Wildberg), P. Birtwhistle (Great Shefford), F. Hormuth (Heppenheim) and S. Gajdos and A. Galad (Modra) were able to confirm the cometary nature. Prediscovery images by LINEAR of Sep. 19, were also identified. Comet P/2003 S2 (NEAT) is about 17^m and passed perihelion in July 2003, at about 2.3 AU. It is of short period with P about 8.6 years. This is NEATs 37^th comet discovery. (IAUC 8209, MPEC 2003-S65)
New Discovery!: On Sep 23, the NEAT survey discovered a new comet which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Follow-Up observer P. Birtwhistle (Great Shefford), J. Mahony (Lafayette), S. D. Gillam (JPL, Table Mountain) and M. Tichy (Klet) were able to confirm the cometary nature. Prediscovery images by LINEAR of Sep. 04 and 20, were also identified. Comet P/2003 S1 (NEAT) is about 17.5^m and will pass perihelion in March 2004, at about 2.6 AU. It is of short period with P about 9.7 years. This is NEATs 36^th comet discovery. (IAUC 8208, MPEC 2003-S59)

2003 Sep 14

2003 Sep 7

New Discovery!: On Sep. 02, 2003, the LINEAR survey found an apparently asteroidal object which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Follow-up observers J. Ticha and M. Tichy (Klet), and J. E. McGaha (Tucson) reported the cometary nature of the 18.5^m object. The first orbit for comet C/2003 R1 (LINEAR) shows a perihelion at about 2.2 AU on July 09, 2003. This is the 118^th comet discovery by LINEAR. (IAUC 8195, MPEC 2003-R35)

2003 Sep 4

Two asteroids in cometary orbits, discovered in 2002 by the LINEAR survey have finally been revealed to show cometary activity.
C/2002 CE₁₀ (LINEAR) was observed by N. Takato, T. Sekiguchi, and J. Watanabe (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan) with the 8.2-m Subaru Telescope on Aug. 21, and 22, 2003. The 15^m comet showed a short tail but only a very small coma. The original discovery was in February 2002. The comet passed perihelion in June 2003, at about 2.0 AU. It moves on a retrograde orbit with a period of about 30.8 years. (IAUC 8193, MPEC 2002-C83, MPEC 2003-R20)
C/2002 VQ₉₄ (LINEAR) was found to display a coma with fanlike morphology by D. Jewitt on Aug. 28.5 UT with the University of Hawaii 2.2-m telescope. The comet, discovered in November 2002, was already suspected to be a comet. It will reach perihelion not before February 2006, at about 6.8 AU. LINEAR has now found 117 comets. (IAUC 8194, MPEC 2002-V71, MPEC 2003-R22)

2003 Sep 3

New Discovery!: An apparently asteroidal object, discovered on Aug. 23, 2003, by the NEAT survey, which was originally placed at the NEO Confirmation Page and afterwards designated 2003 QX₂₉ has been found to be cometary by I. Griffin and S. G. Huerta (Cerro Tololo) and by J. Young (Table Mountain). The object was also slightly diffuse in earlier images taken at Klet. The 18^m comet P/2003 QX₂₉ (NEAT) is of short period (P about 21.6 years). According to the first orbit the comet already passed perihelion in October 2002, at about 4.3 AU. This is NEATs 35^th comet discovery. (IAUC 8192, MPEC 2003-R14)
ESO has issued a press release regarding the record breaking observation of 1P/Halley (cf. news of 08/13/2003).