Aug 04 P/1999 XB69 (LINEAR) recovered as 2010 C2 Aug 06 2010 Edgar Wilson Awards go to Rui Yang, Xing Gao, Don Machholz and Jan Vales Aug 09 Zhijian Xu reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images Aug 12 Zhijian Xu reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images (SOHO 1900) Aug 12 P/2002 X2 recovered as 2010 P1 Aug 13 Tony Hoffman reports a non-group comet in real time C2 images Aug 13 Hanjie Tan reports a non-group comet in real time C2 images Aug 13 P/1999 U3 recovered as 2010 P2 Aug 16 P/1998 U4 recovered as 2010 P3 Aug 16 WISE discovers faint periodic comet 2010 P4 Aug 17 P/2003 S2 recovered as 2010 P5 Aug 21 Jim Scotti recovers P/2000 Y3 as 2010 Q1 Aug 23 Bo Zhou reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images Aug 25 Zhijian Xu and Bo Zhou report a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images Sep 03 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.
Beginners will often find comets fainter than about 7th magnitude difficult to
locate - see below for information on positions and finder charts.
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 2010 August, are used in the ephemerides, but note that
ephemerides are
not updated every time the magnitude parameters are.
The following lists [updated 2010 July 16] 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
A plot of recent search areas by
professional teams looking for NEOS.
Download the January 2010 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 and News
Details
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.
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 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
Upcoming comets
Predictions for the comets expected to return in
2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013
are published in the BAA Journal and in the ICQ.
This list 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.
[Updated 2010 February 22]
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
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
