COMET HIGHLIGHTS FOR JUNE 2014
2014-May-31
Section Updates
Comet lightcurve plots have been added to the Comet Magnitude Repository page. The Comet Section main page has two new features: the latest comet images and a table of bright comets (containing current brightness, constellation, elongation from the Sun, distances from Sun and Earth in AU, time and distance of perihelion, and time and distance for closest approach to Earth.
Over the past month, we have received a number of great images from Frank Melillo, John Sabia and Carl Hergenrother of comets C/2012 K1 (PANSTARRS) and 209P/LINEAR. Numerous positive visual and CCD magnitude estimates by Salvador Aguirre (9), John Sabia (2) and Carl Hergenrother (10) have been submitted for comets C/2012 K1 (PANSTARRS), C/2012 X1 (LINEAR), C/2014 E2 (Jacques) and 209P/LINEAR.
Evening Comets
C/2014 E2 (Jacques) [Perihelion on 2014-Jul-02 at 0.67 AU from the Sun]
As May comes to a close, Comet Jacques holds the spot as brightest comet at magnitude ~7.5. Unfortunately, the comet is also racing towards the Sun and is no longer visible to Northern observers. Even Southern observers will loss the comet to the bright evening twilight after the first few nights of June. Luckily Jacques will become visible in the FOV of the SOHO C3 imager during the last 10 days of May. At that time, the comet may be as bright as 5th magnitude. You can follow Comet Jacques in the C3 images here.
A dynamically old comet, Jacques has the potential to remain bright and active through perihelion. Starting in mid-July the comet will again be visible to observers (though not those in the Southern Hemisphere). It may still be a nice 5th magnitude comet at that time as it will be only a few weeks past its July 2nd perihelion (0.67 AU) and rapidly approaching Earth for a late August close approach (0.56 AU).
Recent ALPO images and observations of C/2014 E2 (Jacques) can be found in the Comet Section Image Gallery and Magnitude Repository. Finder charts can be found on the Comet Chasing website.
C/2012 K1 (PANSTARRS) [Perihelion on 2014-Aug-27 at 1.05 AU from the Sun]
PANSTARRS is currently around 8th magnitude. With Jacques leaving the night sky for awhile, C/2012 K1 should be the brightest, observable, comet of the month. Except for a slow but steady brightening, the comet hasn’t changed much over the past few months. More of the same should be expected for June. The comet continues to sport two tails, a broad, bright dust tail trailing the comet’s orbit and a narrow, fainter ion tail (see the images in the Comet Section Gallery).
PANSTARRS starts the month in Ursa Major and will travel across Leo Minor before ending the month in Leo. By that time, the comet will be very low in the western sky at dusk. It will be lost to observers from July through mid-September when it may be as bright as 6th magnitude. A dynamically new comet it is very possible to be fainter than predicted near and after perihelion. C/2012 K1’s distance from the Sun will decrease from 1.74 to 1.41 AU and its distance from Earth will increase from 1.65 to 1.99 AU.
Recent ALPO images and observations of C/2012 K1 (PANSTARRS) can be found in the Comet Section Image Gallery and Magnitude Repository. Finder charts for C/2012 K1 can be found on the Comet Chasing website.
Morning Comets
C/2012 X1 (LINEAR) [Perihelion on 2014-Feb-21 at 1.60 AU from the Sun]
Now over three month since perihelion, C/2012 X1 is still around magnitude 8.5-9.0. The comet’s brightness will fade slowly as it moves from Aquarius into Piscis Austrinus. Its distance from the Sun will increase from 2.07 to 2.32 AU this month while its distance from Earth slightly decreases from 1.61 to 1.55 AU.
Finder charts for C/2013 R1 can be found on the Comet Chasing website. Its ALPO image gallery can be found here.
C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina) [Perihelion on 2014-Jul-05 at 1.08 AU from the Sun]
This comet appeared to be inactive, and hence was considered an asteroid, when discovered back on October 23, 2013 by the Catalina Sky Survey. It wasn’t until April 26 that a growing number of observers started to note a coma and tail. Hence, what was once asteroid 2013 UQ4 is now Comet Catalina. The question now is how bright it will get. As the month starts, the comet is only visible from the Southern Hemisphere at around 12-13th magnitude. By the middle of the month, the comet will be visible to northern observers. As the month progresses the comet will move closer to the Sun (from 1.22 to 1.08 AU) and rapidly closer to Earth (from 1.46 to 0.48 AU) on its way to perihelion on July 5 (at 1.08 AU) and closest approach to Earth on July 10 (at 0.32 AU). It is a morning object moving northward from Pisces into Pegasus.
Back in 2002, comet C/2001 OG108 (LONEOS) put on a similar display. I remember being able to observe the comet as an inactive 16th magnitude asteroid one month, a bright 8th magnitude binocular comet (with strong active jets in large telescopes) a few months later and then again as an inactive asteroid (surrounded by residual dust) a month or so after that.
We are still waiting for our first Comet Section magnitude estimates for this interesting object.
As always, the Comet Section is happy to receive all comet observations, whether images, drawings or magnitude estimates.
- Carl Hergenrother (ALPO Comet Section Coordinator)
