COBS News archive

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
Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring) will make a very close approach to Mars in October 2014.

New Evidence That Comets Could Have Seeded Life On Earth
March 05, 2013
Its among the most ancient of questions: What are the origins of life on Earth? A new experiment simulating conditions in deep space reveals that the complex building blocks of life could have been created on icy interplanetary dust and then carried to Earth, jump-starting life.

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
Cbet nr. 3376, issued on 2013, January 08, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 19.5) by J. Scotti with the 691 Steward Observatory, Kitt Peak, on images obtained with the 0.9-m f/3 reflector + CCD on January 06.2. The new comet has been designated P/2013 A2 (SCOTTI).

New Comet: C/2012 Y3 (McNaught)
January 03, 2013
Cbet nr. 3367, issued on 2013, January 01, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 15.2) by the E12 Siding Spring Survey on images obtained with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt + CCD on December 30.6. The new comet has been designated C/2012 Y3 (McNaught).

Recovery of comet 26P/Grigg–Skjellerup
January 02, 2013
MPEC 2012-Y30, issued 2012 December 26, reports our recovery of comet 26P/Grigg–Skjellerup. We found the comet on 2012 December 05.6 and December 14.5 at about magnitude 20. We imaged it remotely with the 2.0-m f/10 from the Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South.

New comet C/2012 X1 (LINEAR)
December 18, 2012
C/2012 X1 (LINEAR) was discovered by the LINEAR survey using a 1.0-m f/2.15 reflector from Socorro, NM, USA, on Dec. 08.38. Their automatic routines do not require human intervention, so it was reported as asteroidal and posted in the NEO Confirmation Pageunder the temporary designation CE63887.

New Comet: C/2012 V2 (LINEAR)
November 13, 2012
Cbet nr. 3290, issued on 2012, November 08, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 19.0) by the LINEAR survey on images obtained with the 1.0-m f/2.15 reflector + CCD on November 05.08. The new comet has been designated C/2012 V2 (LINEAR).

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
Cbet nr. 3264, issued on 2012, October 22, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 21.0) by Pan-STARRS Survey on images obtained with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on October 18.3. The new comet has been designated C/2012 U1 (PANSTARRS).

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
Cbet nr. 3259, issued on 2012, October 18, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 17.6) by R. A. Kowalski on Catalina Sky Survey images obtained with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope on October 15.4. The new comet has been designated C/2012 T6 (KOWALSKI).

New Comet: C/2012 T5 (BRESSI)
October 18, 2012
Cbet nr. 3258, issued on 2012, October 18, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.6) by T. H. Bressi on CCD mosaic images taken with the Spacewatch 0.9-m f/3 reflector at Kitt Peak on October 14.4. The new comet has been designated C/2012 T5 (BRESSI).

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).

New Comet: C/2012 S1 (ISON)
September 29, 2012
Cbet nr. 3238, issued on 2012, September 24, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.8) by Vitali Nevski (Vitebsk, Belarus) and Artyom Novichonok (Kondopoga, Russia) on CCD images obtained on Sept. 21.06 UT with a 0.4-m f/3 Santel reflector of the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) near Kislovodsk, Russia. The new comet has been designated C/2012 S1 (ISON).