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Reports from Geisei Observatory<December 8, 2000>


• 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak
The comet had been seen quite easily in the 20cm refractor until recently, but it has dimmed considerably in the past week. At 5 am on December 7, it was at 7th magnitude and rather diffused with the diameter being about 4'. It is important to keep a close watch to see if it brightens by the time it reaches perihelion on January 6 next year. The above magnitude matches the prediction, and the brighter magnitudes recorded earlier may be due to outbursts.

• C/1999 T1(McNaught-Hartley)
The comet can be seen faintly at 5.30 am in twilight. At 5.30 am on December 7, m1 was 7.0 and the diameter was 7'. The tail was 15' with a rather large and conspicuous coma. The photo was taken by the 60cm telescope with a 4-minute exposure on Technical Pan. The sky background was quite whitish.


5.30 on December 7, 2000
60cm reflector
4-minute exposure on Technical Pan
Tsutomu Seki at Geisei Observatory








Copyright (C) 2000 Tsutomu Seki.