New comet Kudo-Fujikawa could be a naked-eye object

[Rick]

From BAA electronic circular No. 00076 on http://www.britastro.org/

Japanese observer Tetuo Kudo discovered a bright comet on December 13.83 using 20x120 binoculars.  Initially reported as 9th magnitude, some observers  report it as bright as 7th magnitude.  It has a coma perhaps 5' in diameter with a faint tail. No definitive orbit is yet available, and for current positions check the NEO Confirmation page at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/NEO/ToConfirm.html The comet is circumpolar from the UK, lying in Hercules.[IAUC 8032, 2002 December 14]

Some preliminary orbits have been calculated.  A direct solution suggests the comet will pass close to the earth and rapidly move south, so that UK observers will only be able to follow it for another week.  The retrograde solution suggests a small perihelion distance, with the comet becoming quite bright.  Both solutions suggest that the comet could have been found a month ago, possibly suggesting an outburst, particularly as it was not visible in SOHO SWAN images.

[ This Message was edited by: Rick on 2002-12-17 13:59 ]

[Rick]

See the BAA Comet Section website at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds for more details including positions. It seems there is a good chance it could be a naked-eye object in early January.

The latest BAA circular says:

A revised orbit is now available for the new comet and an ephemeris is on the section web page at the address below.  The new orbit has a larger perihelion distance, so the maximum brightness is likely to be around 0th magnitude.  It should become a naked eye object in the new year and will be visible from the UK into the third week of January.  After perihelion it will return to UK skies in March as a binocular object.  

The co-discoverer is Shigehisa Fujikawa who found the comet on December 14.86 using a 0.16-m reflector.  This is his 5th comet, the others being C/1969 P1 (Fujikawa) C/1970 B1 (Daido-Fujikawa), C/1975 T1 (Mori-Sato-Fujikawa) and 72P/Denning-Fujikawa.  He was also an independent discoverer of C/1968 H1 (Tago-Honda-Yamamoto), C/1968 N1 (Honda) and C/1988 P1 (Machholz).

The comet has been found on SOHO SWAN images, suggesting that it is not in outburst and therefore quite likely to perform well.

[ This Message was edited by: Rick on 2002-12-17 14:01 ]

[Mike]

Nice to see Comets are still being found by amateurs with binoculars (even though they were huge binoculars !). With the huge amount of automated searches going on it has been said that the era of amateurs finding them is coming to an end. Let's hope not.

[Whitters]

It's nice to see that anyone can discover anything with the complete lack of clear skies we have had recently.

[Mike]

Oh dear, you spoke too soon. The sky is now completely clear with not a single cloud to be seen anywhere. I suppose that means i'll have to get the scope out and use it now. <sigh>