159P/LONEOS |
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Past, Present, and Future Orbits by Kazuo Kinoshita |
![]() Copyright © 1993-2000 by the California Institute of Technology
In the course of the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, the 122-cm Oschin Schmidt Telescope at Palomar Observatory (California, USA) accidently photographed this comet on 1989 December 17.19. The faint trail near the center of the image was made by the comet as it moved during the exposure of the Kodak IIIaF (red) plate. The trail was originally found by Maik Meyer (Germany) while searching for prediscovery images of comets. This image was obtained through SkyMorph at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Discovery The Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search (LONEOS) survey program (Arizona, USA) discovered this apparently asteroidal object on 2003 October 16.40. The magnitude was given as 18.8. It was designated 2003 UD16. C. W. Hergenrother (Whipple Observatory, Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, USA) obtained images of the comet on November 30 with the 1.2- reflector and a CCD camera. The magnitude was given as 18.5. After co-adding 900-second R-band CCD exposures, Hergenrother noted a circular, condensed coma 11 arc seconds across. The comet was also accidentally detected on November 30 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project. LINEAR gave the magnitude as 19.3-19.6. Prediscovery images of this comet were found by M. Meyer (Germany) while examining Palomar Sky Survey plates. The discovery was announced on 2004 January 7 and the images were located on plates exposed on 1989 December 17 and 1991 February 19. Since the observations were from two separate nights, the link to 2003 UD16 was firmly established and this enabled the assignment of the permanent number, 159P. Historical Highlights
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