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(meteorobs) Comet P/Encke in Outburst!
I was able to see the famous periodic comet Encke from downtown Greenbelt,
Maryland yesterday evening. It is currently undergoing an outburst and is
about 7th magn. I saw it with 12x63 binoculars. On Saturday night observers
will be in for a real treat if it doesn't fade as P/Encke will be in the same
low power field as Brocchi's Cluster (aka 'The Coat Hanger')!
Even though comet P/Encke has the shortest period of any known comet
(~3.3 years), it isn't always favorably placed. I saw it once before in
1990. Below is an ephemeris taken from the Charles S. Morris comet website:
2003 11 17 20 25.59 +30 27.1 0.261 1.009 87.0 8.6
2003 11 22 19 32.89 +21 28.2 0.268 0.925 68.8 8.1
2003 11 27 18 50.31 +12 28.2 0.291 0.839 51.8 7.7
2003 12 02 18 15.75 +04 21.9 0.327 0.750 36.7 7.2
2003 12 07 17 47.32 -02 36.0 0.378 0.658 24.0 6.7
2003 12 12 17 24.22 -08 30.4 0.444 0.566 14.7 6.0
Good Observing!
GWG
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