Comets Blog
Last month, the ALPO Comets Section received 120 images and 139 magnitude estimates of 36 comets: C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), C/2024 Q3 (PANSTARRS), C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), C/2024 B1 (Lemmon), C/2023 V4 (Camarasa-Duszanowicz), C/2023 TD22 (Lemmon), C/2023 R1 (PANSTARRS), C/2023 C2 (ATLAS), C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), C/2022 U1 (Leonard), C/2022 N2 (PANSTARRS), C/2022 E2 (ATLAS), C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS), C/2020 V2 (ZTF), P/2024 Q2 = P/2005 SB216 (LONEOS), P/2010 WK (LINEAR), 384P/Kowalski, 360P/WISE, 328P/LONEOS-Tucker, 305P/Skiff, 253P/PANSTARRS, 229P/Gibbs, 208P/McMillan, 190P/Mueller, 154P/Brewington, 146P/Shoemaker-Levy, 136P/Mueller, 130P/McNaught-Hughes, 89P/Russell, 54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT, 50P/Arend, 49P/Arend-Riguax, 43P/Wolf-Harrington, 37P/Forbes, 13P/Olbers, and 12P/Pons-Brooks.
A big thanks to our recent contributors: Dan Bartlett, José J. Chambó, Dan Crowson, Michel Deconinck, Jose Guilherme de Souza Aguiar, Juan Jose Gonzalez Suarez, Christian Harder, Eliot Herman, Rik Hill, Michael Jäger, John Maikner, Gianluca Masi, Michael Mattiazzo, Martin Mobberley, Mike Olason, Andrew Pearce, Chris Schur, Tenho Tuomi, and Christopher Wyatt.
The monthly ALPO Comet News PDF can be found Cloudy Nights forum. All are encouraged to join the discussion over at Cloudy Nights.
Comets News Headlines
Meteors Shed Light on Comet Composition
8/22/2024
In
a study recently published in Icarus, researchers using visual and video
observations of 47 young meteor showers have found differences in the
sizes of meteoroids produced by short-period and long-period comets. The
difference in meteoroid sizes may be a relic of the conditions in the
early solar system when these objects formed. Jupiter-family comets
usually crumble into smaller, denser meteoroids, whereas long-period (Oort
Cloud) comets often crumble into sizes indicative of gentle accretion
conditions.
Read More
Comet's impact triggered downfall of ancient Hopewell?
2/1/2022
The rapid decline of the Hopewell culture about 1,500 years ago might be explained by falling debris from a near-Earth comet that created a devastating explosion over North America, laying waste to forests and Native American villages alike. Researchers found evidence of a cosmic airburst at 11 Hopewell archaeological sites in three states stretching across the Ohio River Valley.
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New comet C/2021 O3 Might Brighten in May 2022
1/20/2022
A comet discovered last July is approaching the inner solar system and might reach binocular visibility (at least) by late April and early May 2022. It’s designated C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS) and appears to be “new” to the inner solar system, a first-time visitor. If it survives its April 2022 passage near our star, the comet might become visible to amateur stargazers armed with binoculars in May. At that time, it’ll be in front of the constellation Perseus the Hero, close to the northwestern horizon after sunset.
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Event Calendar
Oct 12, 2024
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) reaches perigee
Nov 29, 2024
Comet 333P/LINEAR reaches perihelion