Comets & Asteroids - Small Bodies of the Solar System: July 2021

Saturday, July 24, 2021

New Comet C/2021 N3 (PANSTARRS)

CBET 5003 & MPEC 2021-O39, issued on 2021, July 22, announce the discovery of a new comet (magnitude ~20.5) on CCD images taken on July 13.5 UT with the Pan-STARRS1 1.8-m Ritchey-Chretien reflector at Haleakala (numerous pre-discovery observations going back an additional month were later identified). The new comet has been designated C/2021 N3 (PANSTARRS).

Stacking of 16 unfiltered exposures, 180 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, July 14.3 from X02 (Telescope Live, Chile) through a 0.61-m f/6.5 astrograph + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a compact coma about 9" arcsecond in diameter elongated toward PA 230 (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini, A. Valvasori).

Our confirmation image (click on the images for a bigger version; made with TYCHO software by D. Parrott)

MPEC 2021-O39, assigns the following preliminary orbital elements to comet C/2021 N3 (PANSTARRS): T 2020 Aug. 13.96; e= 0.96; Peri. = 303.99; q = 5.69 ; Incl.= 26.67

Credit: MPC

by Ernesto Guido

Friday, July 23, 2021

New Comet P/2021 N2 (Fuls)

CBET 5000 & MPEC 2021-N137, issued on 2021, July 15, announce the discovery of a new comet (magnitude ~18.3) on CCD images taken on July 09.4 UT with the Catalina Sky Survey's 0.68-m Schmidt reflector (pre-discovery Catalina observations from June 27 were identified later). The new comet has been designated P/2021 N2 (Fuls).

Stacking of 28 unfiltered exposures, 60 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, July 10.1 from Z08 (Telescope Live, Oria) through a 0.7 m f/8 Ritchey Chretien + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a compact coma about 8" arcsec in diameter and a tail 10" long in PA 250 (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini, A. Valvasori).