Memorable Comets

C/1984 V1 (Levy-Rudenko)

    This is Mr. Levy's first discovery. He later teamed up with the Shoemakers and discovered many comets. This is the most memorable comet to me, particularly because it appeared when I had just begun working at Geisei Observatory. This comet is also memorable, as it was the first comet I had ever photographed on Kodak's Technical Pan film. It replaced the expensive 103a-O and other photographic plates and contributed enormously to discovery of a large number of minor planets at Geisei Observatory.

    I watched Comet Levy-Rudenko in the 20cm refractor soon after its discovery. Both on November 16 and 17 it was at 10th magnitude with a somewhat diffused, 3'- to 5'-diameter coma. It is not well known, however, that, according to the then Yamamoto Circular No. 2029, there was an independent discoverer in Japan on November 13. However, his name was not given to the comet due to a possible delay in reporting the discovery.

    Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which was discovered in 1993, presented the amazing heavenly shows with the fragmented nuclei of the comet hitting Jupiter one after another.