The Great Christmas Comet of 2011, 2011 W3 (Lovejoy) |
The Great Christmas Comet of 2011, 2011 W3 (Lovejoy) |
Guest_Sunspot_* |
Dec 2 2011, 09:59 PM
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Guests |
http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=.../birthday_comet
Possible very bright sungrazing comet coming mid December - Comet Lovejoy C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) Information in the link above. |
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Jan 5 2012, 03:42 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 723 Joined: 13-June 04 Member No.: 82 |
Comet-ml post #19210 by David Seargent
QUOTE Hi John and all,
John - I agree that the comet most probably has made a previous perihelion passage as an independent body, but it may not necessarily have been an independent COMET. Although unlikely, it is possible that it may have broken away as a secondary nucleus while the parent was still moving toward its previous perihelion. The situation would then be a little like the Marsden sunskirters C/2004 V9 and V10. Sekanina has shown that V10 broke away from V9 about 3 months prior to its previous perihelion passage, at which the split comet was observed as C/1999 J1 (albeit not resolved into two nuclei in the SOHO images). Interestingly, the circumstances of this disruption meant that the smaller V10 (although discovered after V9) reached perihelion before V9; the opposite of what happens when comets split at or shortly after their previous perihelion passage. IF something similar has happened with W3, it is likely that the primary nucleus is still on its way and probably not very far away! Please, nobody read this as a prediction of another bright sungrazer in the near future. There is no real reason to think that W3 did break away from a larger object just prior to its previous perihelion, only that this remains one possibility. But it might be wise to monitor the inward path of the Kreutz group just in case...! Cheers, david |
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