New Sungrazing Comet

After the bright sungrazing comet discovered on January 02, 2010 on images taken by NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft, a new comet is plunging toward the sun. On first looking this comet is ~1-1.5 mag fainter than the previous one from early January.

Below the new comet imaged by another solar spacecraft, SOHO:

Below the same image with labels (by Spaceweather):

While by clicking the thumbnail below you can see a full C3 Animation (credit SOHO):

The comet is just entering the field of view of SOHO C2 camera:

 

UPDATE - January, 23

As expected, this sungrazing comet has not survived to its close encounter with the sun.

By Ernesto Guido

Possible Nova in Ophiuchus

CBET circular No. 2128, issued on January 16, 2010, announces the discovery by Hideo Nishimura (Japan) of a possible nova (mag 8.4) on two 13-s frames taken on Jan. 15.857 UT with a Canon EOS 5D Digital Camera (+ Minolta 120-mm f/3.5 lens). The object is located at:

R.A. = 17h39m41s, Decl. = -21d39'47" (equinox 2000.0)

According to K. Kadota nothing is visible at this position on a red Digitized Sky Survey image from 1997 (limiting mag estimated to be 20 by S.Nakano).

Below the confirmation image of this outbursting object taken by K. Itagaki:

(Credit: K. Itagaki, Japan)

UPDATE - January, 23

According to CBET circular No. 2139, Hiroyuki Maehara (Kyoto University) reports that a low-resolution spectrum (range 400-800 nm) of this object was obtained on Jan. 22.890 UT with the 25-cm telescope at the Kwasan Observatory. The spectrum shows H_alpha and Fe II emission lines and suggests that this object is a classical nova just after maximum.

This transient has been designated: V2673 OPHIUCHI = NOVA OPHIUCHI 2010

by Ernesto Guido

New Comet Discovery: C/2010 A4 (SIDING SPRING)

IAU circular No. 9107, issued on 2010, Jan. 14, announces the discovery by G. J. Garradd of an apparently asteroidal object, on CCD images taken with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope in the course of the Siding Spring Survey. After posting on the Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage, Garrad itself and other observers have noted the cometary appearance of this 19.0 magnitude object, designated C/2010 A4 (SIDING SPRING).

We have been able to confirm this object remotely, through the GRAS network, using a scope located in Mayhill (NM): on 2010, January 13.4, co-adding of 20 unfiltered exposures, 120-seconds each obtained by means of a 0.25-m, f/3.4 reflector + CCD, show a diffuse coma nearly 8" in diameter with a very weak central condensation.

Our confirming image:

The first and preliminary orbit for comet C/2010 A4 (SIDING SPRING) indicates perihelion on Oct. 8, 2010, at about 2.7 AU.

This is the 67th comet for the Siding Spring Survey.

by Ernesto Guido & Giovanni Sostero

2010 AL30 - Close approach Video & Image

Just few hours before the close approach of small asteroid 2010 AL30 to Earth at about 0.34 lunar-distance, we have been able to image it remotely through the GRAS network, using a scope located in Mayhill (New Mexico).

This is a single 120-second exposure showing the asteroid as a trail among the field stars (more details on image):

(click on the image for a bigger version )

While below you can see an animation composed of 6 frames, each frame is a 30-second exposure. Click on it for a bigger version:

by Ernesto Guido & Giovanni Sostero

NEO 2010 AL30 Close Approach

MPEC 2010-A59 issued on on 2010, Jan. 11 announces the discovery by Linear survey of a new object designated 2010 AL30. According to the preliminary orbit, 2010 AL30 will approach Earth at about 0.34 lunar-distance at 1248 UTC on 13 Jan. 2010 at magnitude 14 and it will be moving at about 10 arcsec/sec. We have been able to follow this object while it was on the Neocp.

Our image. Click on it for a bigger version:

The object has a value of H=27.0 (about 10/15 meters) and has an orbital period of 1.00 yr. On Minor Planet Mailing List, there was some early speculation that the object could be a man-made object rather than a natural one. But according to Alan W. Harris : "..it is unlikely to be artificial, it's orbit doesn't resemble any useful spacecraft trajectory, and its encounter velocity with the Earth is not unusually low, around 9.5 km/sec "v_infinity". Perfectly ordinary Earth-crossing orbit".

The radar team at Goldstone is attempting to schedule time for radar observations of 2010 AL30 early on January 13. The pointing uncertainties are currently large, so optical astrometry is required.

UPDATE - JANUARY 12, 2010

We have been able to follow-up 2010 AL30 on Jan. 12.37 through the GRAS network, using a scope located in Mayhill (NM). Below you can see our image obtained by co-adding of 16 unfiltered exposures, 10-seconds each obtained by means of a 0.25-m, f/3.4 reflector + CCD.

2010 AL30 has been classified in the JPL Small-Body Database as an Apollo-type asteroid. Apollo are Near-Earth asteroid with orbits that cross the Earth's orbit similar to that of 1862 Apollo.

Please see our new post for latest image & video of 2010 AL30 taken few hours before the close approach:

http://remanzacco.blogspot.com/2010/01/2010-al30-close-approach-video-image.html

by Ernesto Guido & Giovanni Sostero

New Comet Discovery C/2010 A3 (HILL)

IAU circular No. 9106, issued on 2010, Jan. 09, announces the discovery of another comet by R. E. Hill, named C/2010 A3. It was discovered with the Catalina 0.68-m Schmidt telescope + CCD in the course of the Catalina Sky Survey.

After posting on the Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage, other observers have noted the cometary appearance of this 18.0 magnitude object.

We have been able to confirm this object remotely, through the GRAS network, using a scope located in Mayhill (NM): on 2010, January 09.1, co-adding of 18 unfiltered exposures, 120-seconds each obtained by means of a 0.25-m, f/3.4 reflector + CCD, show a coma nearly 10" in diameter and a broad fan-shaped tail about 10" long in p.a. 50 deg.

Our image is available here:

The first and preliminary orbit for comet C/2010 A3 (HILL) indicates perihelion on Mar. 27, 2010, at about 1.65 AU.

This is the 3rd comet discovery of 2010 (after P/2010 A1 (HILL) and P/2010 A2 (LINEAR)) and the 21st comet discovery for Hill.

by Ernesto Guido & Giovanni Sostero

Bright Sungrazing Comet

Australian amateur astronomer Alan Watson discovered on January 02, 2010 a bright sungrazing comet in the images taken on December 30 by STEREO-A spacecraft.

A sungrazing comet is a comet that passes extremely close to the Sun at perihelion. While small sungrazers can be completely evaporated during such a close approach to the Sun, larger sungrazers can survive many perihelion passages.

The comet is now visible in the images taken by LASCO C3 camera of SOHO spacecraft:

C3 Movie:

 

Spaceweather image with labels:

According to a message by Wentao Xu on comets-ml mailing list, the comet has reached magnitude 4 on January 02.36. Magnitude right now (January 02 at 22UT) is perhaps 0 (maybe -1).

Below an animation made by M. Jaeger using 35 Soho images from Jan 2 at 14.42UT to Jan 2 at 21.18UT . Click on the image below to see it:

UPDATE - JANUARY 04, 2010

On January 03 the comet was visible in the Lasco C2 camera too:

http://bit.ly/4Iq5Vq & http://bit.ly/7ZCEy9

While here you can see the frames used by A. Watson to discover the comet in Stereo images. Look for the faint streak rising from lower left.

According to the latest Soho images the comet has not survived to this extremely close passage near the Sun.

By Ernesto Guido