NEW COMET IN HERCULES

Using giant 20 x 120 binoculars, Japanese amateur Tetuo Kudo
has discovered a comet of 9th (or perhaps) 8th magnitude,
moving east-southeast through Hercules. He made the find
early on the morning of December 14th (local time).
According to the announcement on IAU Circular 8032,
confirming CCD images by Ken-ichi Kadota (Saitama, Japan)
revealed a short tail about 1/3 degree in length, pointing
away from the Sun.

A preliminary orbit calculated by Brian G. Marsden of the
Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, indicates
that this comet is headed for perihelion in late January,
when it will pass well inside the orbit of Mercury and may
brighten considerably. Unfortunately, it will then be
almost directly *behind* the Sun as seen from Earth, hence
virtually impossible to observe. Before that time, Northern
Hemisphere observers should be able to follow the comet
with binoculars in the morning sky through mid-January.
Skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere are in a position
to see it emerging from the Sun's glare in late February,
in the evening sky.

Congratulations, Tetuo Kudo!

The ephemeris below, calculated from Marsden's preliminary
orbital elements on Minor Planet Electronic Circular
2002-X84, gives the comet's right ascension and declination
(equinox 2000.0) at 0 hours Universal Time on selected
dates. Also listed are the comet's distance from the Earth
(delta) and Sun (r) in astronomical units (where 1 a.u. is
about 149,600,000 kilometers), its elongation angle from
the Sun in degrees, predicted magnitude, and the
constellation though which it is passing. (If the numbers
in the columns don't line up properly, reset your e-mail
program to a fixed-width type font like Courier.)

Raoul