COBS News archive

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).

Fragmentation event in 213P/Van Ness
August 09, 2011
Today, during our observing session with Faulkes Telescope North we observed a fragmentation event in comet 213P/Van Ness.

SOHO Watches a Comet Fading Away
August 01, 2011
NASAs EPOXI spacecraft came within 450 miles of Comet Hartley 2, a small comet not even a mile in diameter, which takes about six and a half years to orbit the sun. Designated officially as 103P/Hartley 2, the comet thus became the fifth for which scientists have collected close-up images.

New Comet: P/2011 NO1
July 21, 2011
Cbet nr.2768, issued on 2011, July 19, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 19.5) by L. Elenin and I. Molotov on four 240-s unfiltered CCD exposures taken remotely with a 0.45-m f/2.8 astrograph at the ISON-NM observatory near Mayhill, NM, USA, on July 7.3 UT.

Comet Hartley 2 Leaves a Bumpy Trail
July 16, 2011
New findings from NEOWISE, the asteroid- and comet-hunting portion of NASAs Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission, show that comet Hartley 2 leaves a pebbly trail as it laps the sun, dotted with grains as big as golf balls.

New Comet: C/2011 N2 (McNAUGHT)
July 11, 2011
IAUC nr.9220, issued on 2011, July 07, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 17.9) by R. H. McNaught with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring, on images obtained on 2011, July 04.46. The new comet has been designated C/2011 N2 (McNAUGHT).

New Comet: P/2011 N1
July 11, 2011
IAUC nr.9219, issued on 2011, July 07, announces that an apparently asteroidal object (discovery magnitude 19.9) reported by Ignacio de la Cueva, Ibiza, Spain (from exposures taken by J. L. Ortiz, P. Santos-Sanz, N. Morales, and himself with a 0.40-m f/3.7 reflector at San Pedro de Atacama, Chile) was found to show cometary appearance after initial posting on the Minor Planet Center NEOCP webpage. The new comet has been designated P/2011 N1

Bright Sungrazing Comet on July 05, 2011
July 06, 2011
A new bright comet diving into the Sun is visible right now in C3 and C2 images taken by SOHO spacecraft.

New Comet: C/2011 M1 (LINEAR)
June 27, 2011
IAUC nr.9218, issued on 2011, June 25, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.6) by the LINEAR survey with a 1.0-m f/2.15 reflector + CCD, on images obtained on 2011, June 22.4. The new comet has been designated C/2011 M1 (LINEAR)

Scientists Analyzs Nucleus of Comet Hartley 2
June 21, 2011
Nearly one year ago, a repurposed NASA spacecraft flew by the comet Hartley 2. As a result, a multitude of high-resolution images were gathered over 50 days that allow scientists to understand the nature of the comets surface and its hidden interior.

Science Paper Details NASA Epoxi Flyby of Hyper Comet
June 17, 2011
Comet Hartley 2 hyperactive state, as studied by NASAs EPOXI mission, is detailed in a new paper published in this weeks issue of the journal Science.