Something to put on your watch lists, should this comet get any brighter. Its no Comet Holmes but let's see how things develop. 29P is in a nearly circular orbit just outside Jupiter at about 5.2 AU from Earth. http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=29P&orb=1 - Clear Skies - Kurt ================= From the AAVSO list Date: Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:27:08 -0500 From: Shawn Dvorak <sdvorak@rollinghillsobs.org> Subject: [Aavso-photometry] Comet 29P outburst To: Aavso-Photometry <aavso-photometry@mira.aavso.org> Message-ID: <4B6A307C.3010208@rollinghillsobs.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed The Astronomer's Telegram service http://www.astronomerstelegram.org announced earlier today that Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 is undergoing an outburst. It's currently in Leo and was around mag 15 prior to the outburst but it's now around mag 12 during the outburst. Not exactly naked-eye visibility but certainly within photometry range for us amateurs. At this time I'm not sure who should get any data that is collected but someone on this list can probably point us in the right direction. Shawn ===================== Astronomer's Telegram entry Massive outburst of 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 ATel #2417; Josep M. Trigo-Rodriguez (CSIC-IEEC) on 3 Feb 2010; 17:39 UT Distributed as an Instant Email Notice (Comets) Password Certification: Josep M. Trigo-Rodriguez (trigo@ieec.uab.es) Subjects: Comets A continuous photometric monitoring of Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 is being currently performed from Spain. We have analyzed multi-band images taken in V, R, and I filters on Feb. 3.181, 2010 by A. Sanchez (MPC442). This object exhibits a stellar appearance in the images with an apparent diameter of 15 arcsec. The derived magnitude of the comet in a 10 arcsec standard photometry field is +11.7 R, +11.5 I, and +11.9 V. These data suggest that this comet is currently experiencing an unusual outburst, probably the brightest in the last decade according the recent photometric compilation by Trigo-Rodriguez et al. (2009) A&A 485, 599. Additional observations obtained in the last month suggest a progressive increase in activity from mid January from a quite inactive 40-days period in which the comet remained close to +16 R magnitude. Other significant observations of our follow-up during the last months are listed: Dec. 20.0400, +16.4 R (J.M. Trigo-Rodriguez, MPC B06); Dec. 25.2482, +16.1 R, and 15.9 I (A. Sanchez, MPC442); Jan. 09.9700, +15.0 R, +15.7 V, and 15.4 I (S. Pastor and J.A. Reyes, MPC J76); Jan. 10.0717, +15.6 R (A. Sanchez, MPC442); Jan. 12.1866, +15.7 R (A. Sanchez, MPC442); Jan. 27.1822, +15.2 R (A. Sanchez, MPC442); Jan. 27.1822, +15.1 R and 15.2 I (D. Rodríguez, MPC 458). Additional observations of this object are encouraged to better understand the physical processes behind the coma evolution after a massive outburst. ====================