NEW COMETS DISCOVERED SEPT 2004
Sept 1 - 30th Complete --- UPDATED Sept 30th

M. E. Van Ness in the course of the LONEOS survey has discovered a new comet on Sep. 26, 2004. J. E. McGaha (Tucson) and J. Young (Table Mountain) also noted the objects cometary appearance after it was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Observer J. Young used a 0.6m reflector and CCD camera to confirm the discovery,
Orbital elements:
C/2004 S1 (Van Ness)
T 2004 Dec. 9.099 TT
q 0.68678 (2000.0)
Peri. 92.502 +0.096204 -0.949155
Node 19.257 -0.735278 -0.270748
e 1.0 Incl. 114.648 +0.670903 -0.160624

NEW Ephemeris calculated From 18 observations 2004 Sept. 26-28.

C2004 09 28.32003 RA: 03 00 54.77 Dec +10 38 04.6 ES081673
C2004 09 28.33785 RA:03 00 48.66 Dec +10 38 41.4 Mag +18.0 TES081673
C2004 09 28.35613 RA:03 00 42.46 Dec +10 39 18.4 ES081673
C2004 09 28.37813 RA:03 00 34.86 Dec +10 40 04.6 ES081673

According to the first and preliminary orbit the 18-magnitude comet C/2004 S1 (Van Ness) will pass perihelion in early December at about 0.7 AU from the sun. Unfortunately this is an intrinsically faint comet and it is not likely to become brighter than Mag +15. This is LONEOS' 27th comet discovery.
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In September according to the International Astronomical Union Circulars 9 comets were discovered beginning with comet 2004 R1 C/2002 K11, a further 4 comets C/2004 P2-P5 (SOHO), and COMET C/2004 Q2 (MACHHOLZ) [now at Mag 12.1]. On September 6th we had COMET P/2004 R1 (McNAUGHT). Then COMET C/2004 R2 [Now at 13.3] (ASAS) on the 9th, Followed by Comet P/2004 R3 (Linear Neat)[Now at Mag19.2] on the 10th. The ephemeris for C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) is from 172 observations Aug. 27-Sept. 20. Which gives the date of perihelion as January 24, 2005.

Comet P/2004 NL21 (LINEAR) received the permanent designation 160P/LINEAR).

Comet C/2004 K3 (LINEAR) has entered the SOHO/LASCO C3 field of view. It is visisble since Sep. 28, entering arount 19:18 UT. The comet is quite inconspicuous, nealy starlike and without a tail.

Also comet C/2004 R2 (ASAS) is predicted to cross C3 starting from Oct. 05, and passing C/2003 K4 by only 2 degrees a few days later, but it is unclear whether C/2004 R2 will become bright enough or survive to be visible at all.

There are only two ephemeris available at this time beginning with comet C/2004 R2 ASAS From 48 observations Sept. 9-20 that gives the date of perihelion as October 8th.

On September 8 Grzegorz Pojmanski released an alert on a possible cometary object of about 12th magnitude found on the Polish "All Sky Automated Survey" (ASAS) images taken on September 3 and confirmed that morning. This was posted on the comet mailing list, and initial orbits by Kobayashi, Sato and Bouma suggested a faint sun-approaching object. Later that day it was posted on the NEOCP and confirmed as a comet on September 9. The initial orbit gives perihelion at 0.11 AU on October 7.9. It is initially poorly placed for observation from the UK, but will pass through the SOHO LASCO C3 coronagraph from October 5 to 10. If it survives perihelion it may become visible from the UK in the second half of October[BAA].




Sep 25 RA 10h 28m 26.9s Dec -19 deg 56' 08" Mag 8.3
Sep 26 RA 10h 39m 14.2s Dec -19 deg 20' 23" Mag 8.1
Sep 27 RA 10h 49m 54.0s Dec -18 deg 40' 47" Mag 7.9
Sep 28 RA 11h 00m 26.3s Dec -17 deg 57' 15" Mag 7.6
Sep 29 RA 11h 10m 51.7s Dec -17 deg 09' 37" Mag 7.3
Sep 30 RA 11h 21m 11.4s Dec -16 deg 17' 39" Mag 6.9

COMET R1 McNaught

Rob McNaught discovered an 18th magnitude comet on CCD images taken by himself with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt at Siding Spring on September 2.42. Sadly although the NEO confirmation page asking for further observations suggested that the object was -0.4, this was not the case! Further observations show that the object is a short period comet, with perihelion at 1.0 AU in late August. The period is 5.4 year[BAA].



sep 25 RA 17h 18m 04.8s Dec -18 deg 24' 54" Mag 17.6
sep 26 RA 17h 24m 35.8s Dec -18 deg 28' 44" Mag 17.6
sep 27 RA 17h 31m 08.3s Dec -18 deg 15' 44" Mag 17.6
Sep 28 RA 17h 37m 42.1s Dec -18 deg 09' 54" Mag 17.7
Sep 29 RA 17h 44m 16.8s Dec -18 deg 03' 13" Mag 17.7
Sep 30 RA 17h 50m 00.0s Dec -17 deg 55' 43" Mag 17.7

If you are able to observe or photograph any of these comets please post your observations here for the benefits of visitors. Many thank's all

Clear Skies

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Richard Pearson
Science Correspondent
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