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Periodic Comet Giacobini-Zinner continues to brighten in the evening sky, while the fainter Comets Meunier-Dupouy and LINEAR linger nearby. Meanwhile, two new comets have been discovered; one remains bright.
On August 10, Peter Williams of Australia visually discovered a new comet near the south polar region. He was using a 12" reflector (f/6) at 72 power for the find. Williams was not comet hunting, but instead was examining the variable star EK TrA. He then started sweeping northward to another variable star when he spotted the comet. Comet Williams has a retrograde orbit that places it near the far side of the sun when at perihelion (Oct. 18). Northern Hemisphere observers will have their first chance to observe it in December when the comet will be visible in the southern morning sky at magnitude nine.
The LINEAR project found a new comet on August 24. C/1998 Q1 is quite small and will remain faint.
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A study of Periodic Comet Tempel 1 by the Hubble Space Telescope indicates that its elongated nucleus measures about 6 by 4 miles in diameter. The observations were conducted in late 1997 when the comet was about 400 million miles from the earth. It is assumed that the nucleus reflects only 4% of the light striking it.
COMET HUNTING NOTES: Williams's comet discovery on August 10 brings the total number of Australian visual comet discoverers to five, this is now half the number of Americans (10) who have visually found comets since 1975. There are only two other Southern Hemisphere comet discoverers: Austin of New Zealand and Campos of South Africa. All 24 comets found by these seven men were discovered south of the celestial equator, 23 being found by only one discoverer.
Peter Williams is the first person to qualify for the Edgar Wilson Award, a cash sum of about $20,000 to be divided up among all the amateurs who discover comets before June 11, 1999.
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