Dust Trail of Comet 17P/Holmes
ATel #7062; E. Lyytinen (Helsinki, Finland), M. Nissinen (Kuvansi, Finland), A. Oksanen (Hankasalmi observatory, Finland)
on 14 Feb 2015; 00:10 UT
Credential Certification: Bradley E. Schaefer (schaefer@lsu.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Comet, Solar System Object
We report that the convergence of dust ejected by comet 17P/Holmes in 2007 is now detected at the position in the orbit where it was originally released and brighter than ever before.
The dust trail was centered at R.A. = 01h 21m 02s, Decl. = +27deg 22' 11" (equinox 2000.0) on Feb. 13.0 UT and oriented toward position angle 58.2 deg.
The detection was made with the 0.61m T24 telescope, iTelescope, California on Feb. 13.2 UT and the 0.40 m telescope of Hankasalmi observatory, Finland on Feb 12.8 UT. The peak surface brightness is about 25 mag per square arcsecond. See the combined image at http://lyytinen.name/esko/Holmestrail_20150212_combined.png .
This convergence is expected to remain bright during the coming days and further observations are urged. The predicted coordinates for the position of the trail given by Lyytinen et al. (2013, JIMO 41, 77-83).
Dust Trail of Comet 17P/Holmes
