May 4, 2024 – ALPO Comet News for May 2024
12P/Pons-Brooks reached its peak performance last month for northern hemisphere observers. The comet is still a 4th magnitude object as May begins but is only observable from the southern hemisphere, fading from 4th to 6th magnitude in the evening sky.
Northern observers currently have another Halley-type comet to themselves, as 13P/Olbers brightens from 8th to 7th magnitude in the evening sky. C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is observable by all in the evening sky as it continues brightening at 9th magnitude.
Two fainter objects between 10th and 12th magnitude are also visible. 479P/Elenin is having its best apparition in any of our lifetimes and should be at 10th to 11th magnitude in the evening sky. While in the morning sky, C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS) is fading from 10th to 11th magnitude.
Last month, the ALPO Comets Section received 202 images and 109 magnitude estimates of 25 comets: C/2024 G1 (Wierzchos), C/2024 F2 (PANSTARRS), C/2024 C4 (ATLAS), C/2023 S3 (Lemmon), C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), C/2022 L2 (ATLAS), C/2022 E2 (ATLAS), C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS), C/2021 G2 (ATLAS), C/2020 S4 (PANSTARRS), C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS), C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS), C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS), 479P/Elenin, 362P/(457175) 2008 GO98, 227P/Catalina-LINEAR, 144P/Kushida, 125P/Spacewatch, 65P/Gunn, 62P/Tsuchinshan, 37P/Forbes, 32P/Comas Sola, 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, 13P/Olbers, 12P/Pons-Brooks.
A big thanks to our recent contributors: Salvador Aguirre, Anthony Amato, Michael Amato, Dan Bartlett, Dan Crowson, Jose Guilherme de Souza Aguiar, J. J. Gonzalez Suarez, Christian Harder, Carl Hergenrother, Eliot Herman, Rik Hill, Michael Jäger, John Maikner, Gianluca Masi, Efrain Morales Rivera, Mike Olason, Uwe Pilz, Gregg Ruppel, Chris Schur, Greg T. Shanos, Willian Souza, Tenho Tuomi, and Chris Wyatt.
The monthly ALPO Comet News PDF can be found here. A shorter version of this report is posted on a dedicated Cloudy Nights forum. All are encouraged to join the discussion over at Cloudy Nights.
