Friday, March 14, 2014

New Comet: C/2014 E2 (JACQUES)

Cbet nr. 3828, issued on 2014, March 14, announces the discovery of a comet (~ magnitude 14.7) on CCD images taken by  C. Jacques, E. Pimentel and J. Barros using a 0.45-m f/2.9 reflector at the SONEAR Observatory near Oliveira, Brazil. The new comet has been designated C/2014 E2 (JACQUES).

We performed follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of 19 unfiltered exposures, 30-sec each, obtained remotely from MPC code Q62 (iTelescope, Siding Spring) on 2014, March 13.6 through a 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD, shows that this object is a comet: very bright coma nearly 2 arcmin in diameter elongated in PA 10.

Our confirmation image (click on it for a bigger version).


M.P.E.C. 2014-E84 assigns the following very preliminary parabolic orbital elements to comet C/2014 E2: T 2014 June 29.52; e= 1.0; Peri. = 349.10; q = 0.60;  Incl.= 157.19

Big Congrats to our friend Cristovao Jacques and all the SONEAR team for the discovery of their second comet! Click here to find more info about their first comet.

UPDATE - March 16, 2014

According to the very preliminary orbit, comet C/2014 E2 will have a close approach with planet Venus on 2014, July 13 at 0.088 AU.

 Discovery images of C/2014 E2

Credit: SONEAR

Below you can see a graph generated using the software Orbitas and showing the predicted magnitude (in red) versus the elongation (click on the image for a bigger version). A word of caution: as always with comets, the future magnitudes reported here are only indicative.




UPDATE - October 02, 2014

Our follow-up image of comet C/2014 E2 (JACQUES) obtained on August 25, 2014 through the 2-meter Liverpool Telescope (MPC code J13). Click on it for a bigger version.



by Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes & Martino Nicolini

1 comment:

olgited said...

grazie,condiviso nel mio blog!