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Reports from Geisei Observatory<December 31, 2002>


• Photograph of C/2002 X5 (Kudo-Fujikawa)
C/2002 X5 has made a sudden appearance. At Geisei it became visible at last through the trees in the northeast at 5:45 on the morning of December 31. At a glance it looked as bright as 6th magnitude, but turned out to be about 6.5 compared with stars nearby. The coma is about 8' in diameter with a slight tail in the northwest. Mr. Hirohisa Sato in Sukagawa reported the following result of his observation made around the same time:
2002/UT     m1   dia   DC    Tail    Seeing
Dec.30.82   7.1   6'   6/7   none    8/10   10X70B
The comet's position is being measured at Geisei. Color photos will be presented later. Magnitude estimates during twilight may differ by about one magnitude depending on the brightness of the sky and instruments in use. Total magnitude estimates made under dark skies will be on the brighter side because faint light around the coma is included.
[Photo of C/2002 X5(Kudo-Fujikawa)]
C/2002 X5 (Kudo-Fujikawa)
a 3-minute exposure from 5:40 on December 31, 2002
60cm F/3.5 reflector on 6415 film
Geisei Observatory Tsutomu Seki
• Observation data: C/2002 Y1 (Juels-Holvorcem)
This will be the last observation of this comet for this year. These are the first measurements made using the repaired computer.
C/2002 Y1
2002 UT         R.A (2000)     Decl.         m1
Dec. 30.80531   13 28 37.28   +17 46 08.4   16.5   372
     30.81493   13 28 38.45   +17 46 22.9          372
     30.84288   13 28 41.75   +17 47 05.2          372
It appears as a small patch of fog. With a 10-minute exposure it looks rather elongated.






Copyright (C) 2002 Tsutomu Seki.