Wednesday, September 21, 2011

New Comet: C/2011 S1 (GIBBS)

Cbet nr.2822, issued on 2011, September 21, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 21.2) by A. R. Gibbs on CCD images obtained on September 18, 2011 by Gibbs and S. F. Tornero with the Mt. Lemmon 1.5-m reflector. The new comet has been designated C/2011 S1 (GIBBS).

We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp, with "Faulkes-Telescope South" on September 21, 2011.

Stacking of 3 R-filtered exposures, 120-sec each, obtained remotely, from the Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South on 2011, September 21.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, shows that this object is a comet: diffuse coma nearly 6-arcsec in diameter.

Our confirmation image (click on it for a bigger version):



M.P.E.C. 2011-S28 assignes the following preliminary orbital elements to comet C/2011 S1 (GIBBS): T 2013 Jan. 16.54; e= 1.0; Peri. =174.65; q = 4.99 AU; Incl.= 2.23

by Giovanni Sostero, Nick Howes and Ernesto Guido

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