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Discovery
Kenneth S. Russell (U.K. Schmidt Telescope Unit, Australia) discovered this comet on a plate exposed by P. R. Standen with the 122-cm Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring on 1979 June 16.44. Russell initially estimated the magnitude as 17, but later changed it to 18. He described the comet as diffuse, with condensation, and exhibiting a slight tail. Standen obtained a confirmation photograph with the same telescope on June 24.45. Standen described the comet as diffuse, with condensation.
Historical Highlights
The first orbit computed for this comet was by M. P. Candy and it was published on July 3. It was an elliptical orbit indicating a perihelion date of May 30 and an orbital period of 7.43 years. Daniel W. E. Green (Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams) published a revised orbit on August 6 which indicated a perihelion date of May 27 and a period of 6.13 years.
During the discovery apparition, the comet apparently reached a maximum brightness of magnitude 17 during the latter days of June, but began fading thereafter. It was last detected on August 14.
The comet's first appearance following its discovery came in 1985. J. Gibson recovered the comet on 1985 April 9.24 with a CCD camera attached to the 1.5-m reflector at Palomar Observatory (California, USA). He estimated the brightness of the nucleus as magnitude 19.5 and noted a tenuous coma some 8-10 arc seconds across, with a possible tail extending about 20 arc seconds toward PA 70 degrees. Because of the comet's faintness, it was only followed until June 17.
S. Nakano used 20 positions obtained between 1979 and 1985, and predicted the comet would pass perihelion on 1991 January 4.54. Conditions were not particularly favorable for observing this faint comet and it was not recovered. The comet was also not recovered at its apparition in 1998.
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