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 17.5m 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 38th 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 18m 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 124th
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
17.5m 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 123rd 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 8m. 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 5m. 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
17.5m 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 122nd 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 11.5m 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
15m object. The first orbit for comet C/2003 T2 (LINEAR) shows
a perihelion at about 1.8 AU in November 2003. This is the 121st 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
12.5m 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 18m object. The first orbit for comet
C/2003 S4 (LINEAR) shows a perihelion at about 3.7 AU in June 2004. This
is the 120th comet discovery by LINEAR.
(IAUC 8213,
MPEC 2003-T02)