Small Apparent Outburst of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3
ATel #15560; Michael S. P. Kelley (U. Maryland), Tim Lister (Las Cumbres Observatory), Carrie E. Holt (U. Maryland) on behalf of the LCO Outbursting Objects Key Project
on 20 Aug 2022; 01:14 UT
Credential Certification: Tim Lister (tlister@lco.global)
We report on an apparent outburst of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 in Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) 1-meter telescope data taken as part of the LCO Outbursting Objects Key (LOOK) Project. Photometry measured in a 5" radius aperture was g=14.59±0.03 and r=14.06±0.03 mag at 2022 Aug 17.97 UTC (PS1 photometric system). The comet brightened to g=14.26±0.02 and r=13.69±0.05 mag by the next detection at Aug 18.27 UTC, resulting in an apparent outburst strength of -0.35±0.03 mag in our photometric aperture. The outburst is confirmed in follow-up observations taken Aug 18.98 UTC with g=14.27±0.02 and r=13.68±0.02 mag. At the time of the first outburst detection, the comet was 0.98 au from the Sun, 1.09 au from the Earth, and at a Sun-target-observer angle of 58 deg.
This work makes use of observations from the Las Cumbres Observatory global telescope network.
