Thursday, May 7, 2020

New Comet C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)

CBET 4769 & MPEC 2020-J37, issued on 2020, May 04, announce the discovery of a comet (magnitude ~17) on images taken with a 0.28-m f/2.2 astrograph of the "Southern Observatory for Near Earth Research" (SONEAR) at Oliveira, Brazil, on May 1 . The new comet has been designated C/2020 J1 (SONEAR).

We performed follow-up measurements of this object while it was still on the PCCP webpage.

Stacking of 8 unfiltered exposures, 90 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2020, May 04.3 from X02 (Telescope Live, Chile) through a 0.6-m f/6.5 astrograph + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a compact coma about 5" in diameter.

Our confirmation image (click here for a bigger version)



MPEC 2020-J37, assigns the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements to comet C/2020 J1 (SONEAR): T 2021 Apr. 15.73; e= 1.0; Peri. =  344.44; q = 3.25;  Incl.= 142.16

By Ernesto Guido & Adriano Valvasori

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