2002 July 31st
COMET C/2002 O4 (HOENIG)
A comet easily visible in binoculars or a small telescope will be
well placed for observing in the northern hemisphere during the next
two months.
Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. m1
2002 07 25 23 26.27 +35 54.9 0.788 1.470 108.5 10.7
2002 07 30 23 17.69 +45 06.1 0.720 1.402 106.5 10.3
2002 08 04 23 01.70 +55 29.9 0.674 1.333 102.4 9.9
2002 08 09 22 28.64 +66 24.5 0.652 1.266 96.5 9.6
2002 08 14 21 05.0 +76 10.0 0.655 1.199 89.2 9.4
2002 08 19 17 35.9 +80 06.0 0.682 1.134 81.6 9.2
2002 08 24 14 50.6 +75 16.2 0.727 1.072 74.1 9.1
2002 08 29 13 49.68 +68 18.8 0.786 1.012 67.2 9.0
2002 09 03 13 22.02 +61 47.9 0.854 0.956 61.1 9.0
2002 09 08 13 06.19 +56 02.3 0.926 0.905 55.6 8.9
2002 09 13 12 55.56 +50 56.4 1.000 0.861 50.8 8.9
2002 09 18 12 47.61 +46 20.6 1.073 0.824 46.6 8.8
2002 09 23 12 41.24 +42 05.8 1.142 0.798 43.1 8.8
2002 09 28 12 35.96 +38 04.6 1.207 0.782 40.2 8.8
2002 10 03 12 31.55 +34 12.1 1.265 0.779 38.0 8.9
2002 10 08 12 27.88 +30 25.2 1.315 0.787 36.7 9.1
Bulletin compiled by Clive Down
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(c) 2002 the Society for Popular Astronomy
Thanks for the info. Ian.
Looks a if the comet should be asy to find, going from east of Cassiopeia towards Ursa Minor, weather permitting! I'm hoping for some clear dark skies in Wales for the next couple of weeks although the dihydrogen monoxide pollution is a major problem around the mountains! :wink:
The DHMO situation yesterday was bad. Buckets and buckets of the stuff... ;>
Alert from the BAA
Two new comets have recently been discovered. The first was accidentaly found
by German amateur astronomer Sebastian Hoenig whilst doing some casual
stargazing on July 22 after a spell of poor weather. Confirmation wasn't
possible until after the full moon and the latest orbit suggests that it will
remain around 8 - 9th magnitude until mid October. Designated 2002 O4 (Hoenig)
[the oe should be an umlaut] it tracks north through Cepheus and into Ursa
Minor. Further details and an ephemeris are on the section web page.
The second is also an unusual discovery in that it is the first real-time
discovery using the SOHO SWAN images that are freely available on the internet.
Japanese observer Masayuki Suzuki spotted a moving object on the images and
this
was confirmed as a comet by groundbased observers. It has been designated 2002
O6 and is currently in the morning sky at around 7th magnitude, moving rapidly
across Eridanus, Orion and Gemini. The orbit is not entirely certain and more
astrometric observations are needed, however it looks as if it will reach
perihelion in early September at around 0.5 AU, though like 2002 F1
(Utsunomiuya) it never strays far from the Sun. Again further details and
updates as they are available are on the web page.