Friday, December 31, 2021

Comet Leonard's show and other comet photos

With just a few hours to go before the end of 2021, while the comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) show is still going on, one last post of the year to thank all the readers of this blog. See you again in 2022, with the hope that there will be clear skies for everyone. According to M. Meyer, 2021 had 68 new comets (2020: 76, 2019: 64) of which 4 were amateur discoveries (2020: 5, 2019: 2). Top 3: PANSTARRS: 23; Mt. Lemmon/Catalina: 13/4; ATLAS: 8. Here's a short roundup of cometary photos starting with the most beautiful comet of 2021 and probably one of the best in recent years. (Click on each image below for a bigger version). 


COMET C/2021 A1 (Leonard) imaged on December 28, 2021 by Ernesto Guido, Marco Rocchetto & Adriano Valvasori via Telescope Live network (MPC code Q56, Australia).


Credit: E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, A. Valvasori


COMET C/2021 A1 (Leonard) imaged on December 31, 2021 by Ernesto Guido, Marco Rocchetto & Adriano Valvasori via Telescope Live network (MPC code Q56, Australia).

Credit: E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, A. Valvasori



COMET 108P/Ciffreo imaged on December 14, 2021 by Ernesto Guido, Marco Rocchetto & Adriano Valvasori through a 0.7 m f/8 Ritchey Chretien + CCD via Telescope Live network (MPC code Z08, Oria, Spain).

Credit: E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, A. Valvasori, E. Bryssinck


COMET C/2019 L3 (Atlas) imaged on December 13, 2021 by Adriano Valvasori & Ernesto Guido via ALMO observatory (MPC code G18, Italy).



COMET 67P (Churyumov–Gerasimenko) imaged on December 12, 2021 by Adriano Valvasori & Ernesto Guido via ALMO observatory (MPC code G18, Italy).


COMET C/2021 A1 (Leonard) imaged on November 30, 2021 by Adriano Valvasori & Ernesto Guido via ALMO observatory (MPC code G18, Italy).


COMET 29P (Schwassmann–Wachmann) imaged on October 11, 2021 by Adriano Valvasori & Ernesto Guido via ALMO observatory (MPC code G18, Italy).


COMET 4P (Faye) imaged on October 03, 2021 by Adriano Valvasori & Ernesto Guido via ALMO observatory (MPC code G18, Italy).



by Ernesto Guido

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

New Comet P/2021 U3 (Attard-Maury)

CBET 5064 & MPEC 2021-V21, issued on 2021, November 02, announce the discovery of a new comet (magnitude ~19)  by A. Maury and G. Attard on CCD images taken on October 24.3 UT  with the 0.28-m f/2.2 Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt astrograph at San Pedro de Atacama, Chile in the course of the  MAP (W94) survey.  The new comet has been designated P/2021 U3 (Attard-Maury). This is the 4th amateur comet discovery of 2021. It is also the second comet discovered using the synthetic tracking technique (using TYCHO software).

Stacking of 51 unfiltered exposures, 60 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, Oct. 27.3 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 6" arcsecond in diameter and a tail 6" long in PA 275 (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini, A. Valvasori).

Stacking of 66 unfiltered exposures, 60 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, Oct. 29.9 from G18  (ALMO Observatory, Italy) through a 0.30-m f/4 reflector + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a compact coma about 5" arcsec in diameter and a tail 6" long in PA 270 (Observers A. Valvasori & E. Guido).

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


 


MPEC 2021-V21, assigns the following preliminary elliptical orbital elements to comet  P/2021 U3 (Attard-Maury): T 2021 Oct. 25.43; e= 0.55; Peri. =  335.48; q = 1.88 ;  Incl.= 70.05.

According to CBET 5064 "the comet passed 0.59 AU from Jupiter in 1983 October (though the orbital period is uncertain by well over a month). A search for earlier observations in archival astrometry produced nothing".

 

Credit: MPC

by Ernesto Guido

Friday, October 1, 2021

New Comet P/2021 Q5 (ATLAS)

CBET 5029 & MPEC 2021-R98 , issued on 2021, September 06, announce the discovery of a new comet (magnitude ~17) on CCD images taken on August 29.6 UT with a 0.5-m f/2 Schmidt reflector at Haleakala, Hawaii, in the course of the "Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System" (ATLAS) search program. The new comet has been designated P/2021 Q5 (ATLAS)

Stacking of 58 unfiltered exposures, 30 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, September 03.1 from G18  (ALMO Observatory, Italy) through a 0.30-m f/4 reflector + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a compact coma about 8" arcsec in diameter and a tail 10" long in PA 270 (Observers A. Valvasori & E. Guido).

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



MPEC 2021-R98, assigns the following preliminary orbital elements to comet  P/2021 Q5 (ATLAS): T 2021 August 30.34; e= 0.61; Peri. =  180.81; q = 1.23 ;  Incl.= 10.72. 


Credit: MPC


by Ernesto Guido

Thursday, September 30, 2021

New Comet C/2021 Q4 (Fuls)

CBET 5028 & MPEC 2021-Q102, issued on 2021, August 31 & September 02, announce the discovery of a new comet (magnitude ~20) on CCD images taken on August 26.2 UT with the Mt. Lemmon Survey (G96) 1.5-m reflector. The new comet has been designated C/2021 Q4 (Fuls)

Stacking of 30 unfiltered exposures, 120 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, August 29.9 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 elongated toward PA 275 (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-Q102, assigns the following preliminary orbital elements to comet C/2021 Q4 (Fuls): T 2023 June 10.66; e= 1.0030276; Peri. =  147.01; q = 7.56 ;  Incl.= 71.47. The comet will pass 2.45 AU from Saturn on 2025 Apr. 30 UT.

Credit: MPC


by Ernesto Guido

Monday, August 2, 2021

New Comet C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS)

CBET 5009 & MPEC 2021-P05, issued on 2021, August 01, announce the discovery of a new comet (magnitude ~20) on CCD images taken on July 26.5 UT with the Pan-STARRS1 1.8-m Ritchey-Chretien reflector at Haleakala. The new comet has been designated C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS)

Stacking of 15 unfiltered exposures, 240 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, July 30.3 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 8" arcsecond in diameter (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-P05, assigns the following preliminary orbital elements to comet C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS): T 2022 Apr. 20.49; e= 1.0; Peri. =  299.88; q = 0.28 ;  Incl.= 56.72


Credit: MPC

This comet could become visible to the naked eye in 2022, reaching magnitude ~5. Below you can see a graph generated using the software Orbitas and showing the predicted magnitude (in red) versus its elongation from the Sun. Anyway, as always with comets, the future magnitudes reported here are only indicative. 


By Ernesto Guido

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).

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


MPEC 2021-N137, assigns the following preliminary elliptical orbital elements to comet P/2021 N2 (Fuls): T 2021 Oct. 28.30; e= 0.47; Peri. =  174.65; q = 3.82 ;  Incl.= 12.99


Credit: MPC


by Ernesto Guido

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Giant Oort Cloud Comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein)

On 2021 June 19, the circular MPEC 2021-M53 of Minor Planet Center announced the discovery of an asteroidal object by astronomers P. Bernardinelli & G. Bernstein (University of Pennsylvania) that they found in CCD exposures obtained with the 4.0-m reflector at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in the course of the "Dark Energy Survey", and which they reported as a previously unknown member of the Oort Cloud. The reported astrometry was spanning from 2014 Oct. 20 to 2018 Nov. 8. The new object was designated 2014 UN271. It was hidden among data collected by the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile and was announced only now because, in the words of one of the discoverers, "finding TNOs with DES is a massive computational problem (my PhD was solving this problem). The search itself took 15~20 million CPU-hours, and the catalog production from our 80,000 exposures probably took more than that!"

According to the orbit calculated using data from 2014 to 2018, this object is likely to be a comet from the inner edge of the Oort Cloud. But 2014 UN271, despite its typically cometary orbit, appeared completely stellar in these archival images when it moved from 29 to 23 AU (for comparison, Pluto is 39 au from the Sun, on average). Below a simulation (made by T. Dunn) of the orbit of comet C/2014 UN271 showing it path in the Solar System from 1985 to 2049. 


A few days after the discovery announcement, 2014 UN271 has been found to show cometary appearance in new CCD images obtained by observers at station codes L81 & K93.Basically this object, that was first seen as an asteroid of magnitude ~22 by DES in 2014 at a distance of 29 AU, approaching the Sun was growing his coma and tails. As of June 2021, it was 20 AU from the Sun shining at a magnitude ~20.After the discovery of the cometary coma, the new comet has been designated C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein). This comet will reach perihelion, its closest point to the Sun, in January 2031 at about ~11 AU away from the Sun.

The absolute magnitude of C/2014 UN271 measured in DES images dated back to 2014-2018, has a value of H = 7.8 which suggests the body could be around 100–200 kilometers across. This value for the size of this comet is valid if we assume there was no contribution from a dust coma in that images. For scale the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (that was the destination of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission) is about 4km in diameter while nucleus of comet Hale–Bopp was about 60±20 kilometres in diameter. According to these data and with a reasonable degree of certainty, C/2014 UN271 it’s the biggest comet that we’ve ever seen!

Despite some exceptional features displayed by this comet, its considerable distance to perihelion should limit the peak magnitude to fairly modest values. Anyway, as always with comets, the future magnitudes reported here are only indicative. Below you can see a graph generated using the software Orbitas and showing the predicted magnitude (in red) versus its distance from the Sun.


We have been able to image this special comet on 2021 June 27 at 10UT from X02 (Telescope Live, Chile) with our CHI-1 telescope that is a 0.61-m f/6.5 astrograph + CCD. Stacking of 13 unfiltered exposures, 240 seconds each, clearly shows the coma developed by this object (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini, A. Valvasori). (click on the images below for a bigger version; made with TYCHO software by D. Parrott).

 

 

We had the pleasure of seeing our image featured in the article dedicated to this comet by the New York Times and written by science writer  R. G. Andrews.

Below an image from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) composed of some of the discovery exposures showing Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein collected by the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. These images show the comet in October 2017, when it was 25 au away from the Sun. (Credit: Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Bernardinelli & G. Bernstein (UPenn)/DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. Acknowledgments: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & J. Miller (NSF’s NOIRLab))

There is no doubt that this comet will be one of the most observed by astronomers for years to come.

by Ernesto Guido

Sunday, June 13, 2021

Bright Nova in Her - NOVA HERCULIS 2021

Following the posting on the Central Bureau's Transient Object Confirmation Page about a possible Nova in Her (TOCP Designation: TCP J18573095+1653396) we performed some follow-up of this object through a TEL 0.32-m f/8.0 reflector + CCD located in Nerpio, Spain and operated by iTelescope network (MPC Code I89).

On images taken on June 13.15, 2021 we can confirm the presence of an optical counterpart with R-filtered CCD magnitude +6.2 at coordinates:

R.A. = 18 57 30.98, Decl.= +16 53 39.6

(equinox 2000.0; Gaia DR2 catalogue reference stars for the astrometry).

This nova has been discovered by  Seiji Ueda, Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan, at mag 8.4 on three 6-s exposures (limiting mag 13.0) taken with a Canon EOS 6D digital camera (+ 200-mm f/3.2 lens) on June 12.537 UT.

According to ATel #14704, a spectrum obtained by Munari et al. "has an overall blue shape and shows very pronounced broad absorptions (FWHM about 3000 km/s) compatible with P-Cyg components for Halpha, Hbeta and Hgamma blue-shifted by about 3100 km/s [...] Overall, the spectrum could be compatible with a nova of unusual large velocity". 

 

Our confirmation image (made with TYCHO software by D. Parrott):


 

An animation showing a comparison between our image and the archive POSS1 plate (1990-08-17):


 
A wide-field view with the nova at the centre:



UPDATE - June 16, 2021

According to CBET 4977, E. Kazarovets reports that the permanent GCVS designation V1674 Her has been given to this nova


by Ernesto Guido & Adriano Valvasori

Thursday, June 10, 2021

New Comet C/2021 K2 (MASTER)

CBET 4975 & MPEC 2021-L89, issued on 2021, June 09, announce the discovery of a new comet (magnitude ~19.0) on CCD images taken on May 23.0 UT with the "Mobile Astronomical System of the Telescope-Robots" (MASTER) auto-detection system (double 0.40-m f/2.5 reflector) at the South African Astronomical Observatory. The object was reported by MASTER as a new NEO candidate and has been found to show cometary activity by CCD astrometrists elsewhere. The new comet has been designated C/2021 K2 (MASTER)

Stacking of 35 unfiltered exposures, 120 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, June 02.4 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 15" arcsecond in diameter elongated toward PA 180 (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini, A. Valvasori).

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




MPEC 2021-L89  , assigns the following orbital elements to comet C/2021 K2 (MASTER): T 2021 Aug. 30.43; e= 0.98; Peri. =  342.26; q = 5.47 ;  Incl.= 100.67


by Ernesto Guido

Thursday, June 3, 2021

New Comet C/2021 J1 (Maury-Attard)

CBET 4972 & MPEC 2021-L11, issued on 2021, June 02, announce the discovery of a new comet (magnitude ~19.0) on CCD images taken by A. Maury and G. Attard on May 09.3 UT with the 0.28-m f/2.2 Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt astrograph at San Pedro de Atacama, Chile in the course of the  MAP (W94) survey.  The new comet has been designated C/2021 J1 (Maury-Attard). This is the first amateur comet discovery of 2021. It is also the first comet ever discovered using the synthetic tracking technique (using TYCHO software).

Stacking of 27 unfiltered exposures, 30 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, May 16.3 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 7" arcsecond in diameter (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini, A. Valvasori).

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



MPEC 2021-L11 , assigns the following orbital elements to comet C/2021 J1 (Maury-Attard): T 2021 Feb 19.45; e= 0.93; Peri. =  147.31; q = 1.74 ;  Incl.= 92.71

Click on the image below to see the discovery image

Credit: MAP survey


Credit: MPC



Congrats to Alain Maury, Georges Attard & Daniel Parrott!

by Ernesto Guido

Friday, May 28, 2021

New Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS)

CBET 4968 & MPEC 2021-K89, issued on 2021, May 27, announce the discovery of a new comet (magnitude ~17.0) on CCD images taken on May 14.5 UT with the 0.5-m reflector + CCD in the course of the ATLAS-HKO (T05) survey.  The object was originally found by Peter Veres of Minor Planet Center (MPC) as unusually bright among the MPC's isolated tracklet file (ITF) and linked to the detections  from May 22 (F51) and May 14 (T08).  A review of the ATLAS images revealed the cometary nature of this object. 

As with the ATLAS observations, this object was reported without comments by Pan-STARRS1 1.8-m Ritchey-Chretien reflector at Haleakala on May 22.6 UT (mag 17.6-18.0), submitted as two separate objects on the same night. This object has been found to show cometary appearance also by CCD astrometrists elsewhere after it was posted on the MPC's PCCP webpage. The new comet has been designated C/2021 K1 (ATLAS).

Stacking of 44 unfiltered exposures, 60 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, May 27.3 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 20" arcsecond in diameter and a tail 30" long in PA 245 (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini, A. Valvasori).

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




MPEC 2021-K89, assigns the following orbital elements to comet  C/2021 K1 (ATLAS): T 2021 May 4.66; e= 0.80; Peri. =  184.33; q = 2.49 ;  Incl.= 16.27


Credit: MPC


by Ernesto Guido

Thursday, May 6, 2021

New Comet C/2021 E3 (ZTF)

CBET 4960 & MPEC 2021-J71 , issued on 2021, May 06, announce the discovery of an apparently asteroidal object (magnitude ~19.5) on CCD images taken on March 09.5 UT with the 1.2-m Schmidt telescope at Palomar in the course of the "Zwicky Transient Facility" (ZTF) search program. This object has been found to show cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere. The new comet has been designated C/2021 E3 (ZTF).

Stacking of 14 unfiltered exposures, 120 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, March 19.2 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 7" in diameter (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini, A. Valvasori).

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

 



MPEC 2021-J71, assigns the following orbital elements to comet  C/2021 E3 (ZTF): T 2022 June 11.81; e= 1.00; Peri. =  228.84; q = 1.77 ;  Incl.= 112.55

 

Credit: MPC



By Ernesto Guido


Wednesday, April 7, 2021

V6595 SAGITTARII = NOVA SAGITTARII 2021 No. 2

Following the posting on the Central Bureau's Transient Object Confirmation Page about a possible Nova in Sgr (TOCP Designation: PNV J17581670-2914490) we performed some follow-up of this object through a TEL 0.6-m f/6.5 astrograph + CCD located in the El Sauce Observatory in Chile and operated by Telescope Live network (MPC Code X02).

This transient has been discovered by Andrew Pearce at 8.4 mag (unfiltered) on 2021-04-04.825 UT using a Canon 1100D DSLR camera with a 100mm f/2.8 lens.  Total exposure time was 20 seconds (2 x 10s images stacked). Rob McNaught reported non-detection on 2021-04-02.776 UT (unfiltered limiting mag 11.0).

On images taken on April 06.40, 2021 we can confirm the presence of an optical counterpart with B-filtered CCD magnitude +8.955 (R-filtered & V-filtered images were saturated in 5-second exposures) at coordinates:

R.A. = 17 58 16.08, Decl.= -29 14 56.4

(equinox 2000.0; Gaia DR2 catalogue reference stars for the astrometry).


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



An animation showing a comparison between my image and the archive POSS1 plate (1996-09-12). Made with TYCHO software by D. Parrott. Click on it for a bigger version.





According to ATel #14513,  K. Taguchi et al. obtained a spectrum of this transient on 2021-04-05.828 UT using the fiber-fed integral field spectrograph mounted on the 3.8-m Seimei telescope at Okayama Observatory of Kyoto University. Their spectrum shows Balmer lines, Fe II lines, and the Na I D line. According to their spectrum and the brightness, they conclude that this object is a classical nova (with a spectrum similar to those of the slow nova V1280 Sco in the early stage).

Below is part of the discovery image by A. Pearce showing the nova. The bright stars to the top right are gamma 1 and 2 Sgr.  South is to the top and east to the right. (Click on it for a bigger version)


Credit: A. Pearce


This nova has been designated N Sgr 2021 No. 2 (with permanent GCVS designation V6595 Sgr).


by Ernesto Guido, Adriano Valvasori, Marco Rocchetto

New Comet C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS)

CBET 4953 & MPEC 2021-G80, issued on 2021, April 07, announce that an apparently asteroidal object (magnitude ~21.0) discovered on CCD images obtained with the F51 Pan-STARRS 1 survey's 1.8m Ritchey-Chretien on 2019, October 22.22 and designated A/2019 U5 (cf. MPEC 2019-V10) has been found to show cometary appearance by other CCD observers over the past half year. The new comet has been designated C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS).

Stacking of 20 unfiltered exposures, 120 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, April 02.1 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 15" arcsec in diameter (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini, A. Valvasori).

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


MPEC 2021-G80, assigns the following orbital elements to comet C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS): T 2023 Mar. 30.3; e= 1.0003; Peri. =  181.58; q = 3.62 ;  Incl.= 113.51


Credit: MPC


by Ernesto Guido

Friday, March 26, 2021

New Comet C/2020 F7 (Lemmon)

CBET 4949 & MPEC 2021-F110, issued on 2021, March 25, announce that an apparently asteroidal object (magnitude ~21.0) discovered on CCD images obtained with the Mt. Lemmon Survey's 1.5-m reflector on 2020 Mar. 22 and designated A/2020 F7 (cf. MPEC 2020-G78) has been found to show cometary appearance by numerous other CCD observers over the past half year. The new comet has been designated C/2020 F7 (Lemmon).

Stacking of 19 unfiltered exposures, 120 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, March 23.9 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 15" in diameter elongated toward PA 50. (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini, A. Valvasori).

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




MPEC 2021-F110, assigns the following preliminary orbital elements to comet  C/2020 F7 (Lemmon): T 2021 Nov. 14.1; e= 0.99; Peri. =  227.97; q = 5.33 ;  Incl.= 93.95


Credit: MPC


by Ernesto Guido