* Astronomy

While searching for "killer asteroids" on Halloween night, University of Hawaii astronomer Fabrizio Bernardi found a new comet, the first discovered from Mauna Kea Observatories.

"While studying images I had taken with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, I noticed an object with a faint tail. I checked to see if there were any known comets in that part of the sky, and was surprised to find that there were none. I consulted with my colleagues David Tholen, Andrea Boattini, and Jana Pittichová, and we decided to monitor the object for a few nights. Having confirmed that it was a comet, we reported the find to the International Astronomical Union." - Fabrizio Bernardi

The comet is now officially "P/2005 V1 Bernardi" after its discoverer.

The comet, which orbits the Sun about once every 10 years, does not come close enough to Earth to be visible to the naked eye. When discovered, it was about 280 million miles away from Earth—almost three times the distance from Earth to the Sun. The length of its tail is estimated to be more than 13,000 miles.

Bernardi is working with Tholen, a UH astronomer who heads a NASA-funded program to find asteroids that pass close to Earth and are therefore potentially dangerous.


Orbital Elements

T 2005 Aug. 14.171 TT                                   MPC
q   2.35206              (2000.0)            P               Q
n   0.099618       Peri.  357.847       -0.611507       -0.763716
a   4.60870        Node   129.775       +0.729912       -0.645415
e   0.48965        Incl.   15.615       +0.305432       +0.013352
P   9.89

From 26 observations 2005 Nov. 1-13.

Date    TT    R. A. (2000) Decl.     Delta      r     Elong.  Phase   m1    m2
2005 12 01    12 22.60   +05 53.3    2.729    2.499    66.2    21.2  19.7
2005 12 02    12 24.14   +05 49.6    2.720    2.502    66.8    21.2  19.7
2005 12 03    12 25.66   +05 46.0    2.711    2.504    67.5    21.3  19.7
2005 12 04    12 27.17   +05 42.5    2.702    2.507    68.1    21.4  19.6
2005 12 05    12 28.67   +05 39.2    2.692    2.510    68.8    21.5  19.6
2005 12 06    12 30.15   +05 35.9    2.683    2.512    69.4    21.5  19.6
2005 12 07    12 31.63   +05 32.8    2.674    2.515    70.1    21.6  19.6
2005 12 08    12 33.10   +05 29.8    2.665    2.518    70.7    21.7  19.6
2005 12 09    12 34.56   +05 26.9    2.656    2.520    71.4    21.7  19.6
2005 12 10    12 36.00   +05 24.1    2.646    2.523    72.0    21.8  19.6
2005 12 11    12 37.43   +05 21.4    2.637    2.526    72.7    21.9  19.6
2005 12 12    12 38.85   +05 18.9    2.628    2.529    73.4    21.9  19.6
2005 12 13    12 40.26   +05 16.5    2.619    2.531    74.0    22.0  19.6
2005 12 14    12 41.66   +05 14.3    2.609    2.534    74.7    22.0  19.6
2005 12 15    12 43.05   +05 12.1    2.600    2.537    75.4    22.0  19.6
2005 12 16    12 44.42   +05 10.1    2.590    2.540    76.1    22.1  19.6
2005 12 17    12 45.78   +05 08.3    2.581    2.543    76.8    22.1  19.6
2005 12 18    12 47.13   +05 06.5    2.571    2.546    77.4    22.2  19.6
2005 12 19    12 48.47   +05 04.9    2.562    2.548    78.1    22.2  19.6
2005 12 20    12 49.79   +05 03.5    2.552    2.551    78.8    22.2  19.6
2005 12 21    12 51.10   +05 02.2    2.543    2.554    79.5    22.3  19.6
2005 12 22    12 52.40   +05 01.0    2.533    2.557    80.2    22.3  19.6
2005 12 23    12 53.68   +05 00.0    2.524    2.560    80.9    22.3  19.6
2005 12 24    12 54.95   +04 59.1    2.514    2.563    81.6    22.3  19.6
2005 12 25    12 56.20   +04 58.3    2.505    2.566    82.4    22.3  19.6
2005 12 26    12 57.44   +04 57.7    2.495    2.569    83.1    22.3  19.6
2005 12 27    12 58.66   +04 57.3    2.485    2.572    83.8    22.3  19.6
2005 12 28    12 59.87   +04 57.0    2.476    2.575    84.5    22.3  19.6
2005 12 29    13 01.07   +04 56.9    2.466    2.578    85.2    22.3  19.6
2005 12 30    13 02.25   +04 56.9    2.457    2.581    86.0    22.3  19.6
2005 12 31    13 03.41   +04 57.1    2.447    2.584    86.7    22.3  19.6

Source