A new comet

[Ian]

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

[Sue]

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!

[Rick]

The DHMO situation yesterday was bad. Buckets and buckets of the stuff... ;>

[Whitters]

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.