Oct 21 Bo Zhou reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images Oct 21 Rik Hill discovers faint comet 2009 U3 Oct 22 Bo Zhou reports a Marsden group comet in real time C3 images Oct 22 Bo Zhou and Shihong Yuan report a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images Oct 24 Rob McNaught discovers faint periodic comet 2009 U4 Oct 25 Al Grauer discovers faint comet 2009 U5 Oct 25 Michal Kusiak reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images Oct 28 Jiangao Ruan reports a Kreutz group comet in archival C3 images from 1999 Oct 29 LINEAR discovers faint comet 2009 U6 Oct 29 Bo Zhou reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images Oct 30 Bo Zhou reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images Oct 31 Jiangao Ruan reports a Kreutz group comet in archival C3 images from 1999 Nov 02 Jiangao Ruan reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images Nov 03 Jiangao Ruan reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images Nov 06 Tony Scarmato reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images Nov 13 Zhijian Xu reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images Nov 15 Arkadiusz Kubczak reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images Nov 16 Jiangao Ruan and Bo Zhou report a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images Nov 16 Alan Watson reports a non-group comet in STEREO images from November 11 (=169P) Nov 17 Jiangao Ruan reports two Kreutz group comets in real time C3 images Nov 19 Jiangao Ruan reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images Nov 19 Rik Hill discovers comet 2009 W1 Nov 19 UpdateIf there have been no recent updates try The German comet group page or Seiichi Yoshida's page for information or the Liga Iberoamericana de Astronomía for observations.
The observable region is an approximate indication of the latitude at
which the comet may be seen. Under good conditions comets may be visible
outside this range. The period when visible is for the UK if the comet
is visible from the UK, otherwise for 40 S or the Equator as appropriate.
Note that in general only details of currently visible comets are
updated and that analyses of past years will be published in the BAA Journal.
An explanation of the information in the ephemerides
is given here. The following magnitude parameters,
last updated 2009 September, are used in the ephemerides, but note that
ephemerides are
not updated every time the magnitude parameters are.
The following lists [updated 2009 October 1] give the ephemeris
details, including the approximate current
magnitude and local visibility for all the comets in the CBAT list for
the UK, the equator and
40 south. CCD observers should try and observe any
comets that have not recently been observed according to the CBAT but which
are expected to be within range of their equipment. Negative observations
are also useful.
Ephemerides of these, and other fainter comets are available on the CBAT
ephemeris page and for positions of newly discovered comets see the
NEO confirmation page
. You can also generate your own ephemerides and elements at the CBAT
Minor Planet and Comet
Ephemeris Service web page.
Seiichi Yoshida has pages for
currently visible comets, which include finder charts. Seiichi also has a
comet rendezvous page,
which lists conjunctions between comets, variable stars and nebulae and a
comet recovery page, which
lists periodic comets not yet recovered at the present return. The
T3 project aims to discover comets
amongst the population of asteroids influenced by Jupiter.
A plot of recent search areas by
professional teams looking for NEOS.
Download the December 2008 newsletter.
Download Richard Fleet's
GraphDark software for graphically displaying comet (and other object) visibility. Latest
version is 2.05, 2007 May.
Download William Schwittek's CometWin software
for generating comet ephemerides and visibility diagrams. [Updated 2002 March 5]
Download Solex, N-body solar system dynamics software.
Warning I receive a large number of emails
containing viruses or other junk. Please try and make clear that your message is
legitimate, otherwise it may be deleted without being read. It is advisable
to use your own name, rather than an alias, in the 'from' field and use an
obvious, recent subject.
Many thanks to those that regularly access this page for your interest.
If you have any comments, suggestions for improvement or find any problems,
please mail the comet section director,
Jon Shanklin, but please make
sure that it is possible to reply to your address.
If you need to phone me I have an answer/faxphone at home on +44 (0)1223 571250
or my work number is +44 (0)1223 221400. The work fax is +44 (0)1223 221279
I can also be contacted at j.shanklin @ bas.ac.uk and snail mail will reach
me at British Antarctic Survey, Madingley Road, CAMBRIDGE CB3 0ET, England.
For information about my day job I have a
web page at BAS.
Highlights
Details
Comet ephemerides etc
The following ephemerides for currently observable comets brighter than 12th
magnitude, each for two months,
use orbital elements courtesy of the
CBAT. Observable limits are for the UK unless stated otherwise.
All ephemerides give B1950 and J2000 positions. Ephemerides were updated as indicated
(mm/dd) following the comet name.
The following longer period ephemerides are given for planning purposes for comets
that may reach binocular brightness. All are for the UK. The predicted magnitudes are
extremely uncertain.
Finder charts
There are daily finder charts for bright comets at
Heavens Above. Reinder Bouma and
Edwin van Dijk's
astrosite Groningen has an excellent
set of
finder charts for
brighter comets.
Orbits etc
You can generate your own ephemerides and list of orbital elements at the CBAT
Minor Planet and Comet
Ephemeris Service web page.
The MPC also has a
list of the last observation
for all comets. In addition, the MPC has orbital elements for
unusual asteroids, many of
which have cometary orbits. The 2005 edition of the
CBAT comet catalogue is now
available.
Full details of the latest orbits are available from Kazuo Kinoshita's
Comet Orbit Home Page.
Downloads etc
Upcoming comets
Predictions for the comets expected to return in
2009, 2010 and 2011
are published in the BAA Journal and in the ICQ.
This list gives the period of visibility and maximum
brightness for periodic comets that are predicted to return within the next
couple of years. It covers the UK, Equator and 40 South and also gives some of the
better returns further in the future. This monthly list
details which comets will be visible from the UK until 2009.
[Updated 2007 September 21]
Seiichi Yoshida also has a list
of comets likely to be visible in the next five years.
Contributing observations
Please send me observations, they will be used in the reports on comets
which appear in the BAA Journal. Visual observers can use
the BAA visual report form
to log observations and the ICQ format is used to archive observations.
There is also a visual drawing form. If you would like to submit by
email you should use
ICQ format
if possible. You can also send observations to
Guy Hurst of
The Astronomer
magazine for publication.
I have written a program that creates files with data in the
ICQ, BAA and TA formats
which you can send to me by email. It now runs under Windows and is available
as a self extracting zip file. [New version, 2004 February 2]
The ICQ format uses special
keys to code
observation particulars. I would be particularly pleased to receive
drawings, as well as photographs and CCD images. If you are submitting images, please
use the standard name format for naming your files, for example
2001q4_20040515_shanklin.jpg. Regular contributors include
Andrew Pearce, Seiichi Yoshida and the AGEO team, Jose Carvajal, Jose Aguiar, Marco Goiato,
Bjorn Granslo, Werner Hasubick, Tim Cooper, Rolando Ligustri,
Martin Mobberley, David Strange, Nick James, Antonio Milani, Maik Mayer,
Phil Moore, Stuart Rae, James Abbott, Giovanni Sostero,
Nicolas Biver, Pepe Manteca, Michael Mattiazzo, Alexander Amorim, Gabriel Oksa,
Rafael Ferrando, Heinz Kerner, Willian Souza, Tony Scarmato,
Carlos Labordena, Juan Gonzalez, Walter Robledo, John Fletcher
several of whom contribute observations from their colleagues.
Comments and contact
Published by jds@ast.cam.ac.uk
