COBS News archive

Recovery of comet 171P/Spahr
October 29, 2011
On October 19.5, 2011 we started an observing session to recover the periodic comet 171P/Spahr. T. B. Spahr (then at University of Arizona, Arizona, USA - now Director, Minor Planet Center) discovered this comet with the 0.41-m f/3 Schmidt telescope in the course of the Catalina Sky Survey on 1998 November 16.39.

New Comet: C/2011 U2 (BRESSI)
October 28, 2011
Cbet nr.2875, issued on 2011, October 26, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 19.4) by Terry H. Bressi on CCD images obtained on September 24, 2011 with the Spacewatch 0.9-m f/3 reflector at Kitt Peak. The new comet has been designated C/2011 U2 (BRESSI).

NASA Says Comet Elenin Gone and Should Be Forgotten
October 27, 2011
Latest indications are this relatively small comet has broken into even smaller, even less significant, chunks of dust and ice. This trail of piffling particles will remain on the same path as the original comet, completing its unexceptional swing through the inner solar system this fall.

Debris cloud of comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin)
October 25, 2011
The big problem imaging the debris of C/2010 X1 (Elenin), is the low S/N of the little cloud it left away. If you want to integrate enough, in order to increase the S/N of yours images, then you face the problem of the trailed stars that are crossing the field, producing an annoying interference with the faint cometary cloud.

Comet Storm in a Nearby Star System
October 23, 2011
NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope has detected signs of icy bodies raining down in an alien solar system. The downpour resembles our own solar system several billion years ago during a period known as the Late Heavy Bombardment, which may have brought water and other life-forming ingredients to Earth.

New Comet: P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-GRAUER)
October 22, 2011
Cbet nr.2867, issued on 2011, October 21, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 19.1) by A. D. Grauer on CCD images obtained on September 19, 2011 with the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector.

Another recovery attempt on C/2010 X1 (Elenin)
October 21, 2011
Today, we imaged again the field of C/2010 X1 (Elenin) remotely, from the GRAS network (Mayhill station, NM). We used two scopes, nearly simultaneously: the 254mm, f/3.4 reflector + CCD, and the 0.1m, f/5 APO refractor + CCD.

C/2010 X1 (Elenin) post solar conjunction recovery attempt
October 11, 2011
Recently we tried to image C/2010 X1 (Elenin) after its solar conjunction. The observing conditions for this comet are currently quite difficult: very low in the morning sky at twilight, within the zodiacal light pollution.

New Comet: C/2011 S2
October 05, 2011
Cbet nr.2852, issued on 2011, October 02, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 15.7) by R. A. Kowalski on CCD images obtained on September 30, 2011 with the Catalina Sky Surveys 0.68-m Schmidt reflector. The new comet has been designated C/2011 S2.

Bright Sungrazing Comet on October 01, 2011
October 04, 2011
A new bright comet diving into the Sun is visible right now (October 01, 2011) in C3 and C2 images taken by SOHO spacecraft. This object belong to the famous Kreutz-group, a family of sungrazing comets that are named after German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz who first studied them in the details.

Further fragmentation events in 213P/Van Ness
September 23, 2011
Stacking of 9 R-filtered exposures, 120-sec each, obtained remotely, from the Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South on 2011, September 20.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, shows that fragment b of comet 213P is still visible, albeit very faint and diffuse (m2 about 21.5, coma diameter about 5-arcsec). Fragment b was located about 5.7 arcmin in PA 240 respect the main nuclear condensation of 213P/Van Ness.

New Comet: C/2011 S1 (GIBBS)
September 23, 2011
Cbet nr.2822, issued on 2011, September 21, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 21.2) by A. R. Gibbs on CCD images obtained on September 18, 2011 by Gibbs and S. F. Tornero with the Mt. Lemmon 1.5-m reflector. The new comet has been designated C/2011 S1 (GIBBS).

Sundiving Comet
September 14, 2011
A comet is diving into the sun today. Discovered just yesterday by amateur comet hunters Michal Kusiak of Poland and Sergei Schmalz of Germany, the icy visitor from the outer solar system is expected to brighten to first magnitude before it disintegrates during the late hours of Sept. 14th.

New Comet: P/2011 R3 (NOVICHONOK-GERKE)
September 12, 2011
Cbet nr.2812, issued on 2011, September 09, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.9) by Artyom Novichonok on on six images taken during Sept. 7.02-7.05 UT using a 0.4-m Jigit telescope at the TAU station of the Ka-Dar Observatory (located near Nizhniy Arkhyz, Russia). The new comet has been designated P/2011 R3 (NOVICHONOK).

New Comet: P/2011 R2 (PANSTARRS)
September 07, 2011
Cbet nr.2811, issued on 2011, September 07, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.7) by Larry Denneau and Richard Wainscoat on two i-band Pan-STARRS images taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS 1 telescope at Haleakala on September 4.5, 2011. The new comet has been designated P/2011 R2 (PANSTARRS).

Update about 213P-B fragment
September 06, 2011
MPECs 2011-P25, 2011-P37 and CBET 2798 detailed the discovery and follow-up about a secondary nuclear condensation (component B) of comet 213P/Van Ness. Recently we performed some additional follow-up on it, in order to check its evolution.

New comet C/2011 Q1 (PANSTARRS)
August 27, 2011
C/2011 Q1 (PANSTARRS) was discovered on 2011, Aug. 20.44 by PANSTARRS team with a 1.8-m f/4 reflector + CCD from Haleakala, Hawaii, USA. Richard Wainscoat, Marco Micheli, Henry Hsieh and Larry Denneau described it as having a FWHM of 1.2 arcsec while stars have 1.0 arcsec.

Comet Elenin Poses No Threat to Earth
August 17, 2011
Often, comets are portrayed as harbingers of gloom and doom in movies and on television, but most pose no threat to Earth. Comet Elenin, the latest comet to visit our inner solar system, is no exception. Elenin will pass about 22 million miles (35 million kilometers) from Earth during its closest approach on Oct. 16, 2011.

Update on comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd)
August 10, 2011
BBC Television in collaboration with Faulkes Telescope and LCOGT today imaged C/2009 P1. The images have been taken with the 2.0 meters Faulkes Telescope North by D. O Briain, BBC Television presenter. The BBC were allocated time on FT North (F65) as part of a new Citizen Science project.

New Comet: P/2011 P1 (McNaught)
August 09, 2011
Cbet nr.2779, issued on 2011, August 05, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.5) by R. H. McNaught on CCD images taken with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring on August 1.7, 2011. The new comet has been designated P/2011 P1 (McNaught).