[BAA 00228] Comet C/2006 A1 Pojmanski

[Whitters]

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BAA electronic bulletin No. 00228            http://www.britastro.org/
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Comet C/2006 A1 Pojmanski

This comet has been putting on a good show low in the east in the mornings. It came to perihelion on February 22 and it is currently moving out of the morning twilight but fading quite rapidly. Current reports put it at around magnitude 5.5 with an ion tail several degrees long visible on images.

The best time to see the comet is at the start of morning twilight between 0430 and 0500 UTC. At 0500 UTC tomorrow morning the comet will be about 20 degrees up just south of east and just southeast of the star epsilon Delphinus.  As always with comets a dark, clear sky will give the best results. From very dark sites the comet may be visible with the naked eye but binoculars will make it much more obvious. The tail is oriented almost due west on the sky.

Over the next week the comet will move higher in the dawn sky as it tracks through Vulpecula and Cygnus but it will fade rapidly and the Moon will start to interfere from the 11th onwards.

The following ephemeris will allow you to plot the comet's position. Note that the positions are for approximately 0500 UTC on the day specified. The UK weather forecast does not look very good for the next few days but any observations that you do make should be sent to the Comet Section.

There is currently an excellent image of the comet taken by Eddie Guscott posted as picture of the week on the BAA web page.

Ephemeris for C/2006 A1 Pojmanski                  

Code Select Expand


T  2006 Feb  22.1816 TT      w 351.18780 )
e  0.99978000                O 211.34280 ) 2000.0
q  0.5553970 A.U.            i  92.73620 )
Source: mpec 2006-e15    Positions are geocentric

m =  8.4 + 5.0 log R + 10.0 log r

 Date    R.A. (2000) Dec.     R       r     Elong  Mag.    Motion
         h  m       o  '     (AU)    (AU)     o          "/hr P.A.
2006 Mar
  8.20  20 44.18  +10  8.4   0.783   0.641   40.2   5.9   409   19
  9.20  20 47.81  +12 41.2   0.790   0.652   41.0   6.0   401   20
 10.20  20 51.58  +15 10.1   0.798   0.664   41.8   6.1   393   21
 11.20  20 55.48  +17 34.5   0.808   0.676   42.6   6.2   383   22
 12.20  20 59.49  +19 54.1   0.819   0.689   43.3   6.3   372   23
 13.20  21  3.62  +22  8.7   0.831   0.702   44.1   6.5   361   24
 14.20  21  7.84  +24 18.0   0.845   0.715   44.9   6.6   349   25
 15.20  21 12.16  +26 21.8   0.859   0.729   45.6   6.7   337   26
 16.20  21 16.56  +28 20.3   0.875   0.743   46.3   6.8   325   27
 17.20  21 21.03  +30 13.3   0.891   0.757   47.0   6.9   313   28
 18.20  21 25.57  +32  1.0   0.908   0.772   47.6   7.1   301   29
 19.20  21 30.17  +33 43.4   0.926   0.787   48.2   7.2   289   30
 20.20  21 34.81  +35 20.6   0.945   0.802   48.7   7.3   277   31
 21.20  21 39.50  +36 53.0   0.964   0.817   49.2   7.4   266   32
 22.20  21 44.23  +38 20.6   0.984   0.832   49.7   7.6   255   33
 23.20  21 48.98  +39 43.6   1.004   0.848   50.1   7.7   245   34
 24.20  21 53.76  +41  2.2   1.025   0.863   50.5   7.8   235   35
 25.20  21 58.56  +42 16.7   1.046   0.879   50.9   7.9   225   36
 26.20  22  3.36  +43 27.3   1.068   0.895   51.2   8.1   216   37
 27.20  22  8.18  +44 34.1   1.089   0.911   51.5   8.2   208   38
 28.20  22 12.99  +45 37.4   1.111   0.927   51.8   8.3   199   39
 29.20  22 17.80  +46 37.3   1.134   0.943   52.0   8.4   192   40
 30.20  22 22.60  +47 34.1   1.156   0.959   52.2   8.5   184   41
 31.20  22 27.39  +48 28.0   1.179   0.975   52.4   8.6   177   42
2006 Apr
  1.20  22 32.16  +49 19.0   1.202   0.991   52.5   8.8   170   43
  2.20  22 36.91  +50  7.4   1.225   1.007   52.7   8.9   164   44
  3.20  22 41.64  +50 53.3   1.248   1.023   52.8   9.0   158   45
  4.20  22 46.34  +51 36.8   1.271   1.040   52.9   9.1   152   46

Nick James, Assistant Director, Comet Section.