C/2006 W3 (Christensen)
The following are the observations of C/2006 W3 (Christensen).
This comet is visible low in the northeastern sky at dawn. Approaching
the early July perihelion, it has been brightening. In a small telescope
it is about 9th magnitude, but the coma is small without a tail. This is
no doubt just an ordinary small comet. The magnitudes given below are mostly
of the nucleus and the total magnitudes will be 1.5 to 2 magnitudes brighter.
Decades ago visual comet hunters could have claimed the honor
of discovering this comet at this magnitude, but in reality it was discovered
by a professional astronomer some years ago. This indicates that the chances
of discovery by amateurs have been obviously more limited now, but there
will be still good chances for amateurs if they continue to search seriously.
Visual amateur comet hunters have an edge over professional astronomers
who are hard pressed for discoveries, because a majority of them will be
content if they can discover even one or two comets in their lifetime which
would bear their names.
Difficulty of new discoveries is not new to present searchers.
It seems to have been frighteningly competitive and difficult in the 18th
and 19th centuries when many comet hunters were fiercely competing for
discovery.
The success of Skalnate Pleso Observatory of Slovak in the
20th century deserves a special mention. I was still a fledgling comet
hunter at that time. Perhaps, only Mr. Honda and I could tell how difficult
it was for anyone to exceed the performance of the searchers at Skalnate
Pleso and make new discoveries. They were established professional astronomers,
but continued to search with small comet seekers. Becvar (Director of the
Observatory)AKresak, MrkosAPajdusakovaAVozarovaAand others made successive
discoveries. For a period of 12 years between 1947 and 1959, they discovered
a total of about 20 new comets at the observatory.
This is a remarkable accomplishment achieved in the extreme
cold, deep in the mountains of Tetra in the northern part of East Europe.
CK06W030 2009 04 02.79497 22 46 26.28 +33 57 08.4 10.5 T 372
CK06W030 2009 04 06.82465 22 47 49.95 +33 57 37.6 11.8 N 372
CK06W030 2009 04 10.78316 22 49 02.78 +33 59 28.9 11.6 N 372
CK06W030 2009 04 12.78090 22 49 35.73 +34 00 55.0 12.0 N 372
CK06W030 2009 04 14.78715 22 50 06.11 +34 02 39.8 11.9 N 372
CK06W030 2009 04 18.75451 22 50 57.63 +34 06 58.8 11.2 N 372
CK06W030 2009 04 23.81146 22 51 45.58 +34 14 01.4 11.3 N 372
CK06W030 2009 04 25.75868 22 51 58.25 +34 17 07.3 12.0 N 372
CK06W030 2009 04 26.75799 22 52 03.43 +34 18 47.6 12.2 N 372
CK06W030 2009 05 19.68194 22 49 06.67 +35 04 59.8 11.1 N 372
