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Comet Williams, presently our brightest comet, enters the morning sky. In the evening sky Comet Meunier-Dupouy passes by Periodic Comet Howell (still in outburst) on November 29 and Periodic Comet Giacobini-Zinner two weeks later. Finally Comet LINEAR (C/1998 M5) steadily brightens while Comet LINEAR (1998 U5) passes by earth at a distance of only 45 million miles in mid-November. Watch this one for a possible outburst.
C/1998 T1 (LINEAR): Picked up on Oct. 2 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near Earth Asteroid Research Team, it was first thought to be an asteroid. This comet is presently magnitude 15 but is still nearly a year from perihelion, and in a retrograde orbit. It should be visible in binoculars next summer as it passes 50 million miles south of us.
C/1998 S1 (LINEAR-Mueller): Jean Mueller at Palomar found this three weeks after the LINEAR picked it up as an asteroid. The comet was closest to the sun at 2.5 AU last summer and remains faint. The orbital period is 9.1 years.
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C/1998 U1 (LINEAR): Found on Oct. 18, this comet remains faint at a distant perihelion distance of 4.0 AU.
C/1998 U2 (Mueller): Found on Oct. 22, this faint comet remains between Mars and Jupiter with a period of 8.8 yrs.
C/1998 U3 (Jager): Amateur Michael Jager of Austria used a 10-inch Schmidt and film to pick this up on Oct. 23. It is now at its brightest (magnitude 12) and will soon be dimming.
C/1998 U4 (Spahr): Timothy Spahr of Arizona used a 16" Schmidt with a CCD when he found this on Oct. 27 as part of the Catalina Sky Survey. It remains faint at magnitude 16 with an orbital period of 13 yrs.
C/1998 U5 (LINEAR): This comet was found Oct. 30, has a high retrograde orbit, and is visible in our northern sky.
COMET HUNTING NOTES: Williams, Jager, and Tucker are all now eligible for the Wilson Comet award. Each amateur used a different methods to find "his" comet: visual, photographic and CCD respectively.
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