Three new comets discovered

Three new comets have been discovered in the last few days:

C/2009 O2 (Catalina) on July 27, 2009

Preliminary orbital elements from the Minor Planet Center assumes its orbit as parabolic, with an inclination of 108-deg. Perihelion will be reached on Mar. 24, 2010, at r about 0.70 AU from the Sun. This comet is expected to reach a maximum magnitude of about 9, at its perihelion.

C/2009 O3 (Hill) on July 29, 2009

We have been able to confirm this object while it was posted in the NEO-CP, both from mpc code H06 & 160. Co-adding of 6 unfiltered exposure, 120 seconds each, obtained remotely near Mayhill (NM) on 2009, July 30.4 through a 0.25-m, f/3.4 reflector + CCD showes that this object to be a comet with a small, compact, coma nearly 5 arcsec in diameter with a tail 30 arcsec long in PA 225 image.

Our image:

Preliminary orbital elements from the Minor Planet Center assumes its orbit as parabolic and indicates perihelion already on Apr. 21, 2009, at about 1.9 AU.

C/2009 O4 (Hill) on July 30, 2009

Preliminary orbital elements from the Minor Planet Center assumes its orbit as parabolic and indicates perihelion on Dec. 1, 2009, at about 2.9 AU.

All 3 comets have been found in the course of the Catalina Sky Survey. According to COCD website now the total of comet discoveries is 73 for Catalina and 15 for Hill.

by Ernesto Guido

References:

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