Comets


Meteor

New Comet - C/2012 L2 (LINEAR)

Discovery Date: June 1, 2012

Magnitude: 19.4 mag

Discoverer: Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research project

C/2012 L2
© Aerith NetMagnitude Graph
The orbital elements are published on M.P.E.C. 2012-L13.

Meteor

New Comet - C/2012 K8 (Lemmon)

Discovery Date: May 30, 2012

Magnitude: 19.5 mag

Discoverer: A. Gibbs (Mount Lemmon survey)

C/2012 K8
© Aerith NetMagnitude Graph
The orbital elements are published on M.P.E.C. 2012-L08.

Meteor

New Comet - C/2012 K6 (McNaught)

Discovery Date: May 27, 2012

Magnitude: 18.4 mag

Discoverer: Robert H. McNaught (Siding Spring)

C/2012 K6
© Aerith NetMagnitude Graph
The orbital elements are published on M.P.E.C. 2012-L04.

Meteor

Recovery of Comet P/1994 X1

Cbet Circular No. 3132, issued on 2012, May 31, announces the recovery of comet P/1994 X1 = 2012 K7 (McNaught-Russell) by our team; this comet was discovered on 1994, December 12 with the UK Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring observatory and it was last observed on 1995, April 17.

On 2012, May 29 we started an observing session to recover the periodic comet P/1994 X1. We found an object of magnitude ~19.5 located ~35 arcsec south-west of the nominal position, along the line of variations (LOV). Stacking of 7 R-filtered exposures, 60-sec each, obtained remotely, from the Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North on 2012, May 29.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, under good seeing conditions, shows that comet P/1994 X1 appears slightly diffuse, with a tiny coma about 3" in diameter, having a total m1 magnitude measured through a Bessel-R filter of about 19.5.

Second night follow-up observations, has been obtained on 2012, May 30.4, under the code H06. Stacking of 8 unfiltered exposures, 180-sec each, obtained on 2012, May 30.4 remotely from the ITelescope network near Mayhill, NM, through a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD + f/4.5 focal reducer, shows that this comet has a nearly stellar appearance.

Comet P/1994 X1
© Remanzacco Observatory

Meteor

New Comet: C/2012 K5 (LINEAR)

Cbet nr. 3127, issued on 2012, May 28, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.5) by the LINEAR survey on CCD images taken with the 1.0-m f/2.15 reflector on May 25.3. The new comet has been designated C/2012 K5 (LINEAR).

We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of 8 R-filtered exposures, 120-sec each, obtained remotely, from the ITelescope network (near Mayhill, NM) on 2012, May 27.4, with a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD,shows that this object is a comet coma 10" in diameter and a tail nearly 20" long in PA 210 deg.

Our confirmation image (click on the image for a bigger version):
C/2012 K5 (LINEAR)
© Remanzacco Observatory
M.P.E.C. 2012-K69 assigns the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements to comet C/2012 K5: T 2012 Nov. 29.04; e= 1.0; Peri. = 138.80; q = 1.15 AU; Incl.= 92.84

Meteor

Recovery of Comet P/2005 N3 (LARSON)

Cbet Circular No. 3123, issued on 2012, May 25, announces the recovery of comet P/2005 N3 (LARSON) = 2012 K4 (Larson) by our team; this comet was discovered on 2005, July 5.38 by S. Larson on CCD images taken in the course of the Mt. Lemmon Survey and it was last observed on 2005, December 02.

On 2012, May 22.6 we started an observing session to recover the periodic comet P/2005 N3. We found an object of magnitude ~20.4 located ~4 arcmin north-east of the nominal position. On May 25.6 we have been able to obtain a second night of observations.

P/2005 N3-2012 K4
© Remanzacco Observatory
Stacking of, respectively, seven and thirteen R-filtered exposures, 60-seconds each obtained remotely from the Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North on 2012, May 22.6 and 25.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, shows that comet P/2005 N3 (LARSON) has a ill-defined central condensation of R magnitude about 20.3, surrounded by a weak coma 5" in diameter, and a faint and broad tail, nearly 8" long toward the south-west.

Meteor

New Comet: P/2012 K3 (GIBBS)

Cbet nr. 3122, issued on 2012, May 23, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.3) by A. R. Gibbs on CCD images taken with the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector on May 21.3. The new comet has been designated P/2012 K3 (GIBBS).

We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of eight R-filtered exposures, 60-sec each, obtained remotely, from the Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South on 2012, May 23.5, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, shows that this object is a comet: coma 5" in diameter and a tail nearly 5" long in PA 250 deg.

Our confirmation image:
P/2012(GIBBS)
© Remanzacco Observatory
M.P.E.C. 2012-K50 assignes the following preliminary elliptical orbitalelements to comet P/2012 K3: T 2012 Sept. 3.56; e= 0.37; Peri. = 158.59; q = 2.16 AU; Incl.= 12.76

Meteor

Asteroid 2011 KP36 Now Appears to be a Comet

2011 KP36 was originally discovered as an asteroid by T. H. Bressi of Spacewatch survey on 2011, May 21. Its orbit was unusual (actually a=38.6 AU, e=0.87, i=19°), belonging to the outer Solar System. Its T3 parameter (respect to Jupiter) is 2.64, so it entered our T3 internal list of targets.

During observations of NEO 1998 OK1 with the 0.81-m f/4 of ARI Observatory (Westfield, code H21) on Apr. 19 Tomas Vorobjov serendipitously detected also 2011 KP36 in the same FOV. Stacking all the images together (totalling 30 minutes) with its proper motion vector, Tomas Vorobjov firstly noted its cometary appearance, with a coma 6″ wide and a possible tail 9″ long in PA around 10°. Its FWHM was 4.4″ while stars nearby were 3.5″.

Here is an animation from two cropped stacks (30×30 seconds each).

After his alert, Sergio Foglia and myself observed it the following day with the 2.0-m f/10 Faulkes Telescope North at Haleakala. Conditions were nearly the best possible and stacking 4×180 seconds images its cometary activity was quite clear. FWHM was 1.3″ while stars 1.1″, but the real confirmation was the presence (visually) of a round faint coma at least 7″ wide. Here is the image:

Comet 2011 KP36
© G.V.Schiaparelli Astronomical Observatory

Meteor

Update on Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)

Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) was found by Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakala, Maui, on the night of 2011, June 5-6. At the moment of discovery the comet was at a distance of nearly 7.9 AU from the Sun (discovery magnitude 19.4). According to it's orbit, around perihelion in March 2013 the comet would be located only 0.30 AU from the Sun and might become a bright naked eye object ( ~ magnitude 1). For more info about the discovery of this comet, see our previous post on this blog of 2011, June 09.

We performed some follow-up measurements of comet C/2011 L4 remotely from the Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South on 2012, May 18.5 through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD. The comet is now at 4.6 AU from the Sun (m2 ~ 15.6). Below you can see our follow-up image (click on it for a bigger version):

Comet C/2011 L4
© Remanzacco Observatory

Saturn

Jupiter, 2 of its moons and a sun-grazing Comet

Here's a neat video posted by SungrazerComets (the Twitter identity of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's Sungrazing Comets website) this morning. It's an animation of images taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on May 13 and 14, when Jupiter was passing through solar conjunction. It's pretty spiffy that SOHO can spot two of Jupiter's moons. As icing on the cake, the video also captures a sungrazing comet and a coronal mass ejection.