Comet 156 P (Russell-LINEAR)

Comet 156 P (Russell-LINEAR) on 9.11.2020

© Velimir Popov & Emil Ivanov 2020

Size: 1400 px

The story of this comet began in September 1986, when K. S. Russell (Siding Spring Observatory, Australia) was examining a 90-min exposure taken by F. G. Watson on September 3.64 with the U.K. Schmidt Telescope. The comet appeared as a diffuse trail, since it moved during the exposure, and the magnitude was estimated as 17. M. Hartley obtained a 30-minute exposure with the same telescope on September 25th, but independent examination by Russell and R. H. McNaught revealed no trace of the comet. No formal announcement was ever made by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. The story continued in 1993, when C. S. Shoemaker (Palomar Observatory, California, USA) discovered a minor planet on plates exposed with the 46-cm Palomar Schmidt telescope and gave positions for November 19th. It received the designation "1993 WU", but it was not followed further. The object was found a third time in 2000. The LINEAR survey obtained five images of the comet on August 31th. Thus the comet was officially discovered in August 2000. It is a short period comet (P=6.84 years). During the period spanning 1945 to 2033, this comet makes three close approaches to Earth and two close approaches to Jupiter. This image was taken on November 9th at 21:30 UT.

Image details:

Center of field RA	23:36:49 (h:m:s)
Center of field DE	-07:46:31 (deg:m:s)
Size	64.9 x 43.2 (arcmin)
Pixel scale:	2.78 (arcsec/pixel)
Orientation:	Up is 336 degrees E of N

Optic(s):	12" ASA Astrograph at F/3.6
Mount:	ASA DDM85 Standard
Camera:	SBIG STL 11000 M
Filters:	Luminance, Red, Green, Blue, Astronomik filters
Dates/Times:	9.Nov. 2020
Location:	IRIDA Observatory, BG, longitude: E 24 44' 18", latitude: N 41 41' 42"
Exp. Details:	;L:4x3min, R:4x3 min, G:4x3 min, B:4x3 min; Bin 2. Total exp.time: 48 min
More details:	Dark and flat frames reduction
Processing:	PS

e-mail: info@irida-observatory.org