2008 February 3
New Discovery!: J. Beize (Beijing Technology and Business University) reports the discovery of a new comet with 13m by Tao Chen (Suzhou City, Jiangsu province, China) on a nova survey CCD image of Feb. 01, taken by Xing Gao (Urumqi, Xinjiang province) with a wide-field 7-cm, f/2.8 camera lens (+Canon 350D camera) at Xingming Observatory on Mt. Nanshan. They also reported the detection of the comet on earlier images of Jan. 30, and 31, where it appeared at 14m and 13.5m, respectively. A confirming image of Feb. 2, showed it at 12m. After posting on the NEO Confirmation Page further confirming reports were received from J. Lacruz (Madrid), L. Buzzi and F. Luppi (Varese), T. Kryachko (Moscow, remotely from Karachay-Cherkessia), M. Pietschnig (Vienna) and P. C. Sherrod (Conway). The first orbit for comet C/2008 C1 (Chen-Gao) indicates perihelion on Apr. 17, 2008, at about 1.3 AU. This means that the comet may reach 11m. For the northern hemisphere the comet will be favourably placed on the evening sky until at least April. A visual observation by A. Hale yield a brightness of 13.1m and a coma diameter of 0.8'. (IAUC 8915, subscription required, MPEC 2008-C16, Comets Mailing List) |