Comet 2007 F1 (LONEOS)

[Whitters]

BAA electronic bulletin No. 00310            http://www.britastro.org/
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Comet 2007 F1 (LONEOS) is inching its way into the evening sky for UK
observers.  Currently around magnitude 7.5, it may reach 3rd magnitude by
the time it reaches perihelion at the end of the month.  Despite this it is
not going to be easy to see as it remains quite low down, and you will need
transparent skies and a clear horizon to spot it.  At the moment it is
slightly better placed for early risers, lying in the constellation of Coma
Berenices.  On October 20 it passes about 4 degrees below Arcturus, and could
show a short tail.  By then it is quickly moving south and will be gone from
UK skies by the end of the month.  It is intrinsically quite a faint object,
and may not survive perihelion.  Sometimes such small comets disintegrate
and this could give rise to a short lived rise in brightness, so it is worth
attempting an observation when you can.  There is a finder chart on the
Section web page at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds. The comet was discovered
on March 19 during the Lowell Observatory Near Earth Object Survey, with
Peter Birtwhistle being one of the first observers to confirm that it
showed cometary features.

All observations, whether by DSLR, CCD or visual, are welcome.  I would
particularly welcome more visual observations, as there are remarkably few
visual observers active in the UK.  There is help on how to make visual
observations in the BAA Guide to Observing Comets, which is available from
the Office.  Magnitude estimates are quite hard to get used to making, and
are rarely as accurate as variable star estimates, however they can be
scientifically useful.  If you make regular estimates during the apparition
the random scatter averages out, and the value for the absolute magnitude
(which gives an estimate of the size of the nucleus) becomes accurate to
a tenth of a magnitude.

Jonathan Shanklin
Director, Comet Section

[Rick]

I generally try to post BAA bulletins either Behind the Scenes (if they're for BAA members only) or in Astronomical Discourse (because they're about something observable) or Astrophotography (if they are requests for photographic or photoelectric observation).

You'll find the copy this bulletin I posted yesterday here.

[Whitters]

Doh!

[Rick]