Reports from Geisei Observatory<January 27, 2000>

• C/1999 S4(LINEAR)
This is the photograph of LINEAR taken by the 60cm telescope on the evening of January 26. The exposure time was 16 minutes on 6415 film and both the coma and tail are easily captured. The tail slightly thick extends to the east for more than 30" at PA 70 degrees. The comet is still far away, but will naturally appear larger when it comes as close as 0.3 A.U. to the earth in July. It is interesting that the comet will pass perihelion when closest to the earth.

The comet was at magnitude 14.8 on January 26. Keep a close watch for changes to its brightness.