Posted by Denis Buczynski at 21:18 on 2013 Oct 21
Comet C/2012X1 Linear was reported to be in outburst by Sato on Oct 20.5 at magnitude 8.5. I imaged the comet this evening at 18:21 UT on the SW horizon just before moonrise. The comet is in outburst and my image shows a circular disk like form about 2 arc mins diameter with a curved jet like structure at its center. It has the appeareance of a mini 17P Holmes. How this outburst will develop over the next few weeks will be very interesting. Should you want to observe this comet then use the finder chart on the Computing Section website (courtesy of Graham Relf) and look close to the SW horizon just after sunset and before moonrise. Comets are unpredicatable in their behaviour and appearance, that is one of their attractions for observers. To paraphrase a famous football manager "Comets eh, bloody hell"Denis BuczynskiComet SectionTHE LINK TO MY IMAGE TAKEN THIS EVENING IS AT :http://britastro.org/baa/index.php?view=detail&id=1703&option=com_joomga...
Posted by Graham Relf at 10:02 on 2013 Oct 22
Finder chart is at http://britastro.org/computing/charts_comet.html complete with magnitudes and B-V of neighbouring stars for estimating purposes. You may need to reresh the page in your browser with F5.
Posted by Nick James at 07:27 on 2013 Oct 24
Fascinating objects are comets!Here's my image from this morning. The coma's over 3 arcmin in diameter now and there's lots of detail.http://www.nickdjames.com/Comets/2013/2012x1_20131024_0506_ndj.jpgAnyone seen it visually?Nick.
Posted by Comet Section at 08:15 on 2013 Oct 26
This comet continues its outburst activity. The coma has increased in diameter to over 4 arc minutes as measured on images taken before dawn on 20131026 by Nick James and myself. The comet is bright at around magnitude 8. To view the latest images look at these on the Comet Gallery:http://britastro.org/baa/index.php?view=category&catid=99&option=com_joo...