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Possible discovery - Logged with BAA minor planets and comet sections

NickH

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NickH

NickH

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Update : I have a slot on FTN tomorrow, so hoping the weather system over Hawaii clears in time (been offline all day today). I have also contacted various people stateside and the comet discoverer to see if we can get any larger aperture or spaceborn instrument time on this.

all go here!

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NickH

NickH

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Willliams University (Jay M Pasachoff) has kindly asked some people to do follow on observations.

This is also from the University of Michigan

University of Michigan — AOSS AOSS Research Professor Michael R. Combi (a top comet scientist) commented recently on the news that Comet Siding Spring's nucleus might be disintegrating.

“There are faint comets like this around all the time. There have been a number of comets named Siding Spring, after Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia, where they were discovered.

“I didn't know anything about this one in particular. It topped out around 10th magnitude a few months ago, meaning you would need a medium-sized amateur telescope to even see it. When they fragment they usually also outburst and brighten for a while as this one looks like it did in the video. It is now 11th magnitude. Stars of 6th magnitude are the faintest stars you can see out in the dark countryside on the clearest night. 11th magnitude is 100 timesfainter than 6th.

“The secondary piece just into the tail in the picture is probably a small fragment or clump of fragments thrown off the main body several days earlier. It should continue to drift down the tail and probably fade compared with the main comet itself.

“In years past, we used to think that comets, like old soldiers, eventually just faded away, gradually vaporizing away as they orbited around the sun. However with improved observations in the last couple of decades, we now know that many comets outburst and fragment into pieces, some big, some small, and rarely even totally disintegrating. This could mean that eruptive fragmentation could be the eventual major cause of death of comets, rather than just fading away.

“This one could be on its first trip near the sun from the Oort cloud which is tens of thousands of times the Earth's distance from the sun away from the sun. It will not be back for thousands of years if ever. It never got very close to the sun, actually just inside the asteroid belt, which is well outside Mars' orbit.”

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NickH

NickH

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Here she is from today...it's 3-5 arcseconds from the main nucleus...magnitude got be be around 12-14 and really shows up in R and G bands only, faint in blue (but the comet is stronger in R anyway)

Image shows RAW frame and stacked images. Maxim shows the stars trailing and the comet and secondary moving

post-14410-133877434413_thumb.jpg

post-14410-13387743442_thumb.jpg

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NickH

NickH

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3-4 arcseconds, yes, it may, but will need very precise tracking, good seeing and a very sensitive camera in R band. The E2V on the Faulkes is also binned 2x2, that shows how faint this is... 2 metre aperture, binned 2x2 with a very high QE sensor

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lunator

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Hi Nick

I was thinking about visual observation.

3.5" at mag 12-14 should be splitable with the eye in a 16" scope.

I know it won't be possible in my 10" scope from London.

Well done on the possible paper ;)

Cheers

Ian

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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That last image (on page 1) looks like the comet is reflecting on the scope lens due to grease or something.

But what do i know. I also thought it may have been a background star when i read the opening post.

Its all very exciting. Do you get the break-a-way comet named after you?

Congrats.

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NickH

NickH

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Lol

well the secondary has now had a size estimate (approx 20,000Km coma) angular separation is around 3 arcseconds, and it's tracking the main nucleus, and not (at this time) fading.. though I suspect it's rotating, as images taken 6 mins apart show variation.

I have another hour allocated tomorrow on FTN courtesy of the team as they are excited beyond belief.. so hoping to detect if it's angular sep is increasing (as suspected by Michigan Uni), or if it's a following orbit and effectively a large second chunk..

Anyone on Twitter can follow the progress on @FaulkesTel or @nickastronomer

Astronomy Now have updated their news item as well, and Donna Burton, is hoping to do follow on observations of her comet (she discovered C2007 Q3)

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barkis

barkis

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You are having a good year Nick, and it Isn't even April yet.

I can see a Sky at Night Prog. with you talking to sir P. about this discovery. Plenty of UK Comet discoverers, but you are the first I think to find one that gave birth.:).

Well done though, you must be elated.

Ron.;)

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