[meteorite-list] Second New Comet, Utsunomiya, May Be Visible in Late April

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:50:22 2004
Message-ID: <200204031900.LAA24379_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/comet_utsunomiya_020403.html

Second New Comet, Utsunomiya, May Be Visible in Late April
By Joe Rao
space.com
03 April 2002

On March 18, just as newly found comet Ikeya-Zhang was making its closest
approach to the Sun and wowing observers around the Northern
Hemisphere, yet another Japanese observer discovered another new comet.
This second comet has an outside chance of also becoming visible to the
unaided eye later this month.

The International Astronomical Union reported on March 20 the discovery by
Syogo Utsunomiya of a comet in twilight. Utsunomiya made his find using
25x150 binoculars. He initially described the comet as a tenth magnitude glow
in the constellation Pegasus.

Several days later, a preliminary orbit for the newly named comet Utsunomiya
indicated it would reach perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, on April
23 at a distance of approximately 43 million miles (69 million kilometers). At
that time, the comet could reach magnitude 5.5, theoretically making it bright
enough to be glimpsed with the unaided eye.

Magnitude is the standard by which astronomers measure the apparent
brightness of objects in the sky. The lower the number, the brighter the
object. Negative magnitudes are reserved for the most brilliant objects. The
brightest star is Sirius (-1.4). The faintest stars visible under dark skies, in
rural areas, are around +6.

Comet Ikeya-Zhang, discovered by Kaoru Ikeya of Japan and Daqing Zhang
of China on Feb. 1, has been sighted with the unaided eye by observers
around the world and is estimated to have achieved magnitude 3.3.

So will there be two naked-eye comets (Ikeya-Zhang and Utsunomiya)
visible in late April? Observers will likely have to wait and see.

"At perihelion, comet Utsunomiya's elongation from the Sun will be only 20
degrees," says Charles Morris of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California.

Such a placement would put the comet uncomfortably close to the bright
solar glare, leaving Morris to infer that this newest comet "will be difficult, if
not impossible to observe when at its brightest."

Either way, Utsunomiya should be visible in binoculars and small telescopes
through much of April.
Received on Wed 03 Apr 2002 02:00:42 PM PST