Apr 16 Sergei Schmalz reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
Apr 17 Sergei Schmalz reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
Apr 17 PanSTARRS discovers faint comet 2012 G1
Apr 18 Sergei Schmalz reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
Apr 19 Sergei Schmalz reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images
Apr 19 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko recovered by Richard Miles et al using the Faulkes Telescope
Apr 19 Sergei Schmalz reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
Apr 20 Sergei Schmalz reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
Apr 22 Sergei Schmalz reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images
Apr 22 Szymon Liwo, Krzysztof Kida and Rafal Reszelewski report a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
Apr 23 Sergei Schmalz reports a Marsden group comet in real time C2 images
Apr 23 Bo Zhou reports a non-group comet in real time C3 images
Apr 27 Masanori Uchina reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
Apr 28 Sergei Schmalz reports a Kreutz group comet in C2 images
Apr 28 Sergei Schmalz and Szymon Liwo report a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
Apr 28 Sergei Schmalz reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
Apr 28 Bo Zhou reports a non-group comet in real time C3 images
Apr 29 Sergei Schmalz reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
Apr 30 PanSTARRS discovers faint periodic comet 2012 H1
Apr 30 Zhijian Xu reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
May 01 Sergei Schmalz and Krzysztof Kida report a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
May 01 Zhijian Xu reports a Marsden group comet in real time C2 images
May 02 Rob McNaught discovers comet 2012 H2
May 12 Salil Mulye, Sergei Schmalz, Szymon Liwo report a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images
May 14 Rob Matson reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images
May 15 The Catalina Sky Survey discovers comet 2012 J1
May 15 Update
If there have been no recent updates try The German comet group page
or Seiichi Yoshida's page for information or the
Liga Iberoamericana de Astronomia for observations.
Elsewhere on these pages:
Highlights /
Newly discovered comets /
Periodic comets /
Contributing observations /
Comet Ephemerides /
Upcoming Comets /
Observing Comets /
Current meteor showers /
Links /
Meetings /
IWCA /
IWCA III home page /
Publications /
Comments and Contacts /
Old 2012 News /
SPA News /
Comet discovery procedure /
Weather information /
The Comet's Tale /
More information
Current comet magnitudes (May 1) and observable region (May 1)
Comet Magnitude Trend Observable When visible Last visual observation
Garradd (2009 P1) 8.5 fade 60 N to 40 S best evening 2012 April
Gibbs (2011 A3) 11 ? fade 35 N to 85 S morning 2011 October
LINEAR (2011 F1) 11.5 bright 60 N to 10 S all night 2012 April
246P/NEAT 11.5 steady ? 60 N to 50 S all night 2012 March
78P/Gehrels 12 fade Poor elongation 2012 April
21P/Giacobini-Zinner 12 fade Poor elongation 2011 December
LONEOS (2006 S3) 12 steady 50 N to 75 S morning 2012 April
Hill (2010 G2) 12.5 fade Poor elongation 2012 February
29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 13 ? varies 50 N to 70 S evening 2012 April
49P/Arend-Rigaux 13.5 fade 60 N to 30 S best evening 2011 December
Bruenjes (2012 C2) 13.5 fade Poor elongation 2012 February
LINEAR (2010 S1) 14 ? steady 60 N to 15 N morning 2011 November
PanSTARRS (2011 L4) 14 bright 35 N to 85 S best morning 2012 March
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.
The last visual observation is as received by the Section. Beginners will often find comets fainter than about 7th magnitude difficult to
locate - see below for information on positions and finder charts.
Highlights and News
- Following a Rosetta comet workshop in London held on April 17 & 18, there are plans for a European Amateur Rosetta Network, with a possible European Comet Workshop
held in London prior to the 2013 Astrofest. More details when available. Although thought unlikely at the meeting, Richard Miles et al
recovered
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko using the Faulkes Telescope on April 19.
- Yudish Ramanjooloo, a PhD student at MSSL is studying comet ion tails and would welcome any amateur images that show such tail features. He is studying time evolution, so
even those images of lower quality may be of use. Contact Yudish at yr2 [at] mssl.ucl.ac.uk if you can help.
- 2009 P1 (Garradd) is still visible with binoculars from suburban locations, however it is fading and becoming more diffuse.
- 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann is having frequent outbursts. It was around 11th magnitude when it emerged from conjunction in
November and most recently outburst in February.
- RAS Press Release on Space Weathering on 81P/Wild
- There will be a joint meeting of the Comet and Asteroid Sections of the BAA on Saturday, October 6 at Milton Keynes
- Image of the month: Recovery image of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken on 2012 April 19 by Richard Miles et al.
Details
- Details of the discovery, observations and analyses of comets which
were discovered during
1995 ,
1996 ,
1997 ,
1998 ,
1999 ,
2000 ,
2001 ,
2002 ,
2003 ,
2004 ,
2005 ,
2006 ,
2007 ,
2008 ,
2009 [updated 2012 January 4],
2010 [updated 2012 May 3],
2011 [updated 2012 April 17] and
2012 [updated 2012 May 15].
- Details, observations and analyses of periodic comets numbered
1 - 100 [updated 2012 January 4],
101 - 199 [updated 2011 December 24],
200 - 299, [updated 2012 March 23] and
cometary asteroids, potentially numberable comets and periodic SOHO comets
[updated 2012 May 3].
- Previous images of the month Please use this Comet Image Naming Convention when submitting images.
- BAA Comet Section image archive
This archive is updated whenever images are sent to <cometobs [at] britastro.org> or are received by Denis Buczynski <buczynski8166 [at] btinternet.com>
- The old Image archive has images to 2008 July 30 with earlier images available on request.
- Full IAUC details of SOHO Kreutz group and other comets announced during
2000 ,
2001 ,
2002 ,
2003 ,
2004 ,
2005 ,
2006 ,
2007 ,
2008 [updated 2010 December 27],
2009 [updated 2010 December 27],
2010 [empty file],
2011 [empty file] and
2012 [empty file].
- A list of SOHO comets discovered during 2000,
2001 ,
2002 ,
2003 ,
2004 ,
2005 ,
2006 ,
2007 ,
2008 ,
2009 ,
2010 [updated 2011 January 24],
2011 [updated 2012 February 10] and
2012 [updated 2012 May 15]
and SOHO X/ comets.
- General information on Kreutz and sun approaching comets
[updated 2009 May 12], on LASCO, STEREO and the Kreutz comets
and a list of all SOHO comets [updated 2011 July 14].
- Daily news from
1999 / 2000 /
2001 / 2002 /
2003 / 2004 /
2005 / 2006 /
2007 / 2008 /
2009 / 2010 /
2011 / 2012.
- Comet news for SPA members for
2000 February /
2000 August /
2001 February /
2001 August /
2002 February /
2002 August /
2003 January /
2003 October /
2004 January /
2004 July /
2005 January /
2005 July /
2006 January / [updated 2006 January 23].
- Maik Meyer's comet mailing list
- Observations submitted in ICQ format for 2009 , 2010 and 2011,
with November 2011 and March 2012 observations
in extended TA format [Updated 2012 March].
Observations submitted or published in ICQ
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.
Comet ephemerides (positions) 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. Modern star charts use J2000, but older atlases will use B1950.
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.
An explanation of the information in the ephemerides
is given here. The following magnitude parameters,
last updated 2012 February, are used in the ephemerides, but note that
ephemerides are
not updated every time the magnitude parameters are.
The following lists [updated 2012 May 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.
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. Following a hack at the MPC,
MPECs etc are now available at this site
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.
A plot of recent search areas by
professional teams looking for NEOS.
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 2009 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
Download the January 2012 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.
Upcoming comets
Predictions for the comets expected to return in
2011, 2012 and 2013
which are published in the BAA Journal in December each year [Updated 2011 October 27].
This list
[Updated 2011 December 18] gives the period of visibility and maximum
brightness for comets that are predicted to be visible within the next
couple of years. A few are listed further into the future.
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 German comet group also has a computer program that will
correctly format observations for the ICQ [2009 December]. Crni Vhr Observatory has launched
the Comet Observation Database which allows entry of observations
in ICQ format, and plots of light curves.
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 Seiichi Yoshida and the AGEO team, Jose Carvajal, Jose Aguiar, Marco Goiato,
Bjorn Granslo, Werner Hasubick, Rolando Ligustri,
Martin Mobberley, David Strange, Nick James, Antonio Milani, Maik Mayer, 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.
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.
Comments and contact
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, my home number is +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.
Published by jds@ast.cam.ac.uk