COBS News archive
New Comet: C/2013 E2 (IWAMOTO)
March 16, 2013
Cbet nr. 3439, issued on 2013, March 14, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude ~14) by Masayuki Iwamoto (Awa, Tokushima-ken, Japan) on three 60-s CCD frames taken on March 10.8 & 11.8 with a Pentax 100-mm f/4 lens and a Canon EOS 5D digital camera. The new comet has been designated C/2013 E2 (IWAMOTO).
Bright Comet in the Evening Sky
March 08, 2013
Skywatchers in the northern hemisphere should enjoy a rare treat in the next few weeks, as Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS enters the evening sky. Although the brightness of comets is notoriously difficult to predict, it looks as though this object may even be visible to the naked eye in the second half of March.
Comet PANSTARRS Rises to the Occasion Mid-March
March 07, 2013
Comets visible to the naked eye are a rare delicacy in the celestial smorgasbord of objects in the nighttime sky. Scientists estimate that the opportunity to see one of these icy dirtballs advertising their cosmic presence so brilliantly they can be seen without the aid of a telescope or binoculars happens only once every five to 10 years. That said, there may be two naked-eye comets available for your viewing pleasure this year.
Comet to Make Close Flyby of Red Planet in October 2014
March 06, 2013
New Evidence That Comets Could Have Seeded Life On Earth
March 05, 2013
Comet C/2013 A1 and its close approach to Mars
March 05, 2013
The discovery of comet C/2013 A1 (SIDING SPRING) was announced on Cbet nr. 3368 & M.P.E.C. 2013-A14, issued on 2013, January 05. The comet was discovered on CCD images obtained by notable Australian observer R. H. McNaught with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope a few days earlier on Jan. 03 (with a discovery magnitude 18.6).
New Comet: C/2013 B2 (CATALINA)
January 28, 2013
Cbet nr. 3390, issued on 2013, January 23, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.9) on images taken by J. A. Johnson with the Catalina Sky Surveys 0.68-m Schmidt telescope + CCD on January 16.2. The new comet has been designated C/2013 B2 (CATALINA). The apparently asteroidal object posted on the Minor Planet Centers NEOCP webpage, has been found to show cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere.
New Comet: P/2013 A2 (SCOTTI)
January 11, 2013
New Comet: C/2012 Y3 (McNaught)
January 03, 2013
Recovery of comet 26P/Grigg–Skjellerup
January 02, 2013
New comet C/2012 X1 (LINEAR)
December 18, 2012
New Comet: C/2012 V2 (LINEAR)
November 13, 2012
Splitting event in comet 168P/Hergenrother
October 29, 2012
Over the past few weeks, comet 168P/Hergenrother has been under intense scrutiny due to its strange behaviour, namely a 6 magnitude surge in its brightness in a matter of several nights. Simultaneously the central condensation became markedly brighter and sharper, whilst the coma was also seen to grow in size.
New Comet: C/2012 U1 (PANSTARRS)
October 25, 2012
New Comet: P/2012 T7 (VOROBJOV)
October 25, 2012
Cbet nr. 3260, issued on 2012, October 18, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 20.1) by Tomas Vorobjov on three 120-s images that he took on October 15 remotely with Alexander Kostin (Houston, TX, U.S.A.) using a 0.81-m f/7 Ritchey-Chretien reflector located at the Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter via the Sierra Stars Observatory Network. The new comet has been designated P/2012 T7 (VOROBJOV).
Update on Comet 168P/Hergenrother
October 23, 2012
Our team performed follow-up observations of comet 168P/Hergenrother on 2012, Oct. 22.4, remotely through the 2m, f/10 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD of Faulkes Telescope North (Haleakala) under good seeing conditions, and a scale of 0.3arcsec/px. Comet 168P has recently undergone an outburst with its magnitude increasing from ~14-15 to magnituide ~9.5.
New Comet: P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS)
October 18, 2012
Cbet nr. 3252, issued on 2012, October 11, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 20.7) by Pan-STARRS survey on CCD images obtained with the 1.8-m Ritchey-Chretien + CCD on October 06. Prediscovery Pan-STARRS observations from 2011 July 28 were identified by G. V. Williams. The new comet has been designated P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS).
New Comet: C/2012 T6 (KOWALSKI)
October 18, 2012
New Comet: C/2012 T5 (BRESSI)
October 18, 2012
Updated data for comet C/2012 S1 (ISON)
October 02, 2012
Our team performed follow-up observations of comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) on 2012, Sept. 28.6, remotely through the 2m, f/10 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD of Faulkes Telescope North (Haleakala) under good seeing conditions, and a scale of 0.3 arcsec/px. After stacking 13 R-filtered exposures, 120-seconds each, comet ISON appears as a pale blob of light, slightly elongated toward the south-west (this is particularly obvious looking at the azimuthal median subtraction rendition).