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(meteorobs) Fwd: [amastro] Re: C2001 A2 does the splits




Following is a cross-post from the 'amastro' list, of potential interest to
meteor observers and scientists... Remember, Greg is not a current 'meteorobs'
subscriber: if you reply, please MANUALLY put 'gchbryant@hotmail.com' in the
"Cc:" line of your reply! Forwarded without the author's permission.

Lew Gramer <owner-meteorobs@jovian.com>


------- Forwarded Message

Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 10:53:12 +1000
To: amastro@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [amastro] Re: C2001 A2 does the splits
From: Greg Bryant <gchbryant@hotmail.com>

Brian Skiff wrote:
>We now know why 2001 A2 (LINEAR) suddenly brightened a few weeks ago,
>and why it remains bright.

That's one possible reason, but perhaps it's not the entire story.  Let's 
not forget Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, where the enhanced activity in 
1995 caused the split some weeks later, and not the reverse.

Notwithstanding 73P, let's assume that the split did occur in late March.  
Is it not curious that C/2001 A2 (an intrinsically faint, long-period comet) 
surged in brightness at about the same distance from the Sun as C/1993 Y1 
(McNaught-Hartley) and C/1999 J3 (LINEAR) - comets that were also both faint 
and long-period.  Perhaps C/2001 A2, in turning on in March, over-did it 
this time round.

I'll be interested to see what happens to the next intrinsically faint, 
long-period comet that's discovered more than 1.5 AU from the Sun on its way 
in.  Thus far, it's a small population sample to study.

Regards,
Greg Bryant
gchbryant@hotmail.com
http://gchbryant.tripod.com

------- End of Forwarded Message


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