Comet C/2011 J2
© Remanzacco Observatory
CBET 3979, issued on 2014 September 19, announced that observations of comet C/2011 J2 (LINEAR) (by F. Manzini, V. Oldani, A. Dan and R. Behrend) on Aug. 27.95, 28.85, and 30.91 UT led to the detection of a second, fainter, nuclear condensation (from now on Component B) located 0".8 east and 7".5 north of the main, brighter nuclear condensation (component A).

For more info about comet C/2011 J2 please see our May 2011 post on this blog by clicking here.

Whilst working on a long term morphology study on comet C/2012 K1 with N. Samarasinha and B. Mueller using the 2-meter Liverpool Telescope, we were alerted of the fragmentation event in comet C/2011 J2 and so diverted the telescope to this comet for a few days.

Our follow-up images were taken on 2014, Sept 26.9 through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD (La Palma-Liverpool Telescope). Stacking of 10 SDSS-R filtered exposures, 20-sec each, shows component B at 14" away in PA 17 from component A. Magnitude of component B is about R = 19.5

Above you can see our follow-up image that clearly shows comet C/2011 J2 (LINEAR) and its secondary B component. Click on it for a bigger version.

For some examples of past comet fragmentation events please check the following links:
Splitting event in comet 168P/Hergenrother
Follow-up of splitting event in Comet 168P
Update about 213P/Van Ness fragmentation
C2005 K2