News - October 2003

2003 Oct 23

New Discovery!: A new comet was discovered on Oct. 22, 2003 by the NEAT survey and was placed on the NEO Confirmation Page. Follow-up observers J. Young (Table Mountain), D. T. Durig, E. C. Henderson, J. K. Andreas (Sewanee) and P. R. Holvorcem, M. Schwartz (Tenagra II) were able to confirmed the comet. Prediscovery images by LONEOS of Oct. 17, were found, too. Comet P/2003 U3 (NEAT) is about 17.5^m and passed perihelion in May 2003, at about 2.4 AU. It is of short period with a P of about 12.8 years. This is NEATs 38^th comet discovery. (IAUC 8220, MPEC 2003-U54)

2003 Oct 22

Periodic comet 2P/Encke has now reached visual observability but seems to lag behind the predictions. Although the comet is known for its somewhat peculiar lightcurve this is something unexpected. Deep CCD images show a sunward fan. Current images can be found at this site. Further images were published e.g. by students of the Amtsgymnasiet Sønderborg, Pepe Manteka and Peter Birtwhistle.
New Discovery!: On Oct. 19, 2003, the LINEAR survey found another comet, reported by F. Shelly (Lincoln Laboratory, MIT), which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Several follow-up observers, including J. Young (Table Mountain, CA) and R. Fredrick and T. Medlock (Louisburg, KS), were able to confirm the cometary nature of the 18^m object. Prediscovery images by LINEAR of Sep. 19, and Oct. 02, were found, too. The orbit for comet P/2003 U2 (LINEAR) shows a perihelion at about 1.7 AU on Dec. 4, 2003. It is of short period with a P of about 9.6 years. This is the 124^th comet discovery by LINEAR. (IAUC 8229, MPEC 2003-U38)

2003 Oct 20

New Discovery!: On Oct. 19, 2003, the LINEAR survey found a comet, reported by L. Manguso and H. Stange (Lincoln Laboratory, MIT), which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. J. E. McGaha (Tucson, AZ) and J. Young (Table Mountain, CA) were able to confirm the cometary nature of the 17.5^m object. The first and preliminary orbit for comet C/2003 U1 (LINEAR) shows a perihelion at about 1.8 AU on Nov. 1, 2003. This is the 123^rd comet discovery by LINEAR. (IAUC 8227, MPEC 2003-U25)

2003 Oct 17

The first orbit for comet C/2003 T3 (Tabur) shows a perihelion in April 2004, at about 1.4 AU. The comet may then reach 8^m. The observing geometry is quite bad - the comet will never come closer to aarth than 2.3 AU. For Central Europe the comet becomes visible after perihelion in May 2004, and will then climb slowly higher in the morning sky. (MPEC 2003-U08)
With new astrometry a revised orbit for comet C/2003 T4 (LINEAR) was published. Now it shows the comet to pass perihelion in March 2005, at about 0.8 AU. The comet may then become as bright as 5^m. The comet will be visible from Central Europe until mid-March 2005, afterwards it will be too close to the sun. The observing geometry is not at its best - the comet will never come closer to earth than about 1.2 AU. (MPEC 2003-U07)

2003 Oct 16

New Discovery!: On Oct. 13, 2003, the LINEAR survey found an apparently asteroidal object, which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Numerous follow-up observers reported the cometary nature of the 17.5^m object. The first and very uncertain orbit (based on the Väisälä solution) for comet C/2003 T4 (LINEAR) shows a perihelion at about 8.4 AU in October 2003. This is the 122^nd comet discovery by LINEAR. (IAUC 8224, MPEC 2003-T76)

2003 Oct 15

New Discovery!: On Oct. 14, 2003, a new comet was discovered by Vello Tabur (Wanniassa, Australian Capital Territory, Australia), which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. The 11.5^m comet was confirmed by J. Broughton (Reedy Creek, Qld.), D. Higgins (Ngunnawal, A.C.T.) and T. Lovejoy (Thornlands, Queensland). No orbit is available yet. A search ephemeris for comet 2003 T3 can be generated at the NEO Confirmation Page. This is Vello's third comet discovery. He already discovered comets C/1996 Q1 (Tabur) and C/1997 N1 (Tabur), both by visual means. There are confirmation images via CCD by Terry Lovejoy and David Higgins. (IAUC 8223, Comets Mailing List)
New Discovery!: On Oct. 13, 2003, the LINEAR survey found an apparently asteroidal object, which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Numerous follow-up observers reported the cometary nature of the 15^m object. The first orbit for comet C/2003 T2 (LINEAR) shows a perihelion at about 1.8 AU in November 2003. This is the 121^st comet discovery by LINEAR. The comet will get slightly brighter in the coming weeks. (IAUC 8222, MPEC 2003-T70)

2003 Oct 7

Recovery!: P. Holvorcem (Campinas, Brazil) reported the discovery of a comet on Oct. 06, 2003, on images taken by C. Juels (Fountain Hills, USA) at a brightness of 12.5^m and a diameter of about 2'. Following posting on the NEO Confirmation Page several observers confirmed the comet. Following a suggestion by S. Hönig (Dossenheim, Germany) from orbital computations by M. Meyer (Kelkheim, Germany), B. G. Marsden (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) was able to show that this comet is identical to the lost comet 1978d = 1977 XIII = D/1978 C2 (Tritton), which was only observed for about a month in 1978. The comet may be found in outburst. P/2003 T1 (Tritton) is currently visible in the morning sky and will become fainter. An animation made from images taken at the Observatorio Astronomico de Mallorca by J. Nomen can be found here. (IAUC 8215, MPEC 2003-T37)

2003 Oct 1

New Discovery!: On Sep. 26, 2003, the LINEAR survey found an apparently asteroidal object, which was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Follow-up observers, including J. Young and A. Grigsby (Table Mountain), H. Mikuz (Crni Vrh) and J. E. McGaha (Tucson) reported the cometary nature of the 18^m object. The first orbit for comet C/2003 S4 (LINEAR) shows a perihelion at about 3.7 AU in June 2004. This is the 120^th comet discovery by LINEAR. (IAUC 8213, MPEC 2003-T02)