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Reports from Geisei Observatory <December 15, 2008>


6P/d'Arrest, 22P/Kopff, 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, 33P/Daniel, 68P/Klemola, and 144P/Kushida

    All of the observed comets are numbered periodic comets.
    6P/d'Arrest was low in the southern sky. It was bright, but still diffused. 29P/Schwassmann-Wachman 1 showed a faint and very extensive diffuse glow. With the slow (large f-ratio) 70cm telescope only the nucleus was captured photographically.
    144P/Kushida has brightened more than expected. I photographed it with a film camera. It looked bright enough to be detected visually with a 20cm reflector.
    205P/Giacobini, rediscovered by Itagaki and Kaneda, maintains a 14th magnitude brightness trailing a 60"-long pretty tail. It is incomprehensible that such a bright and great comet had been missing for as long as one century. Perhaps, It is perhaps one of the interesting aspects of comets.
    I searched for 85P/Boethin one day before it passed perihelion. It was expected to be at 8th magnitude and almost too bright for the 70cm telescope, but there was no sign of this comet. I concentrated my search not only in the predicted area, but anticipated possible changes of +3 days to -2 days in perihelion dates and conducted photographic search accordingly. As this comet was observed twice (1975 and 1986) at the time of its close approach, there should not be much deviation from the predicted positions, though only a small amount of non-gravitational effect may be seen. The search on December 15 should have comprehensively covered all the possible areas the comet could be found. And it was expected to be as bright as 8th magnitude. At the time of the discovery in 1975, I observed this comet with Geisei's 40cm telescope. I remember it was so faint and fragile that it could disappear any time. I wonder if it has actually disappeared. Or will it brighten suddenly after passing perihelion like many other comets? Believing one-in-one-million chances, I am going to search tonight hoping to find it.

144P/Kushida
3-minute exposure from 20:00 on December 19, 2008
70cm f/7 reflector


0006P          2008 12 15.43507 00 36 18.33 -21 36 54.8          16.3 T      372

0022P          2008 12 09.85816 14 33 36.06 -11 18 01.4          16.1 T      372

0029P          2008 12 07.72101 08 18 17.75 +23 00 46.5          16.1 N      372
0029P          2008 12 09.76250 08 17 45.02 +23 01 57.0          16.0 N      372

0033P          2008 12 07.77049 11 18 26.64 +30 44 19.6          19.0 N      372

0068P          2008 12 15.38490 19 39 56.61 -15 50 07.5          15.0 T      372

0144P          2008 11 24.64236 03 21 12.84 +19 43 15.8          14.5 T      372
0144P          2008 12 02.71354 03 18 32.12 +18 38 00.5          13.7 T      372
0144P          2008 12 15.45573 03 18 19.22 +17 04 16.7          13.1 T      372

  70cm f/7 + Nikon D-200  T. Seki  K. Muraoka  S. Shimomoto                     
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Copyright (C) 2008 Tsutomu Seki.