Reports from Geisei Observatory<July 12, 2001>

• Photograph and observation data: LINIEAR C/2001 A2(LINEAR)
LINEAR (C/2001 A2) has moved northward and become visible in the eastern sky even early in the evening. On July 10 we were able to see the stars for the first time after a period of bad weather. Mars was getting closer to Antares again. LINEAR was observed at 23.30 in moonlight. It has become a little fainter with the nucleus being 8.2 magnitude. It should be one or two magnitudes brighter, but in the moonlight or twilight the coma is washed out and can be estimated too conservatively. The position measured by the 60cm telescope is provided here:

2001 U.T       R.A(2000)     Decl.       m2
July 10.60451  22 57 50.96  +10 17 46.8  8.2  372

The photo was taken on July 3 and shows the comet's fast motion across the star field.

C/2001 A2(LINEAR)
Exposure from 2.52 am to 3.10 am on July 3, 2001
60cm f/3.5 reflector on TM400 film
Tsutomu Seki at Geisei Observatory
Tsutomu Seki