The discoveries keep rolling in as the prime discovery surveys continue to enjoy clear skies. The number of new finds should start tailing off soon as the moon approaches Full. When bright moonlight battles faint asteroids, the faint guys usually lose out.
The La Sagra Survey of Spain have reported their 4th comet discovery (all in the past 2 years). Comet La Sagra is a short-period comet with a very asteroidal orbit. In fact, the orbit is smack in the middle of the Main Belt of asteroids making this comet one of the few known Main Belt comets (MBC). This type of comet represents a intermediate state between usually dry asteroids and icy comets. The rapidly increasing number of MBCs means that many asteroids (especially in the mid- to outer-belt) still retain some volatiles that occasionally sublimate to produce cometary activity. At 18-19th magnitude this comet is not expected to get brighter and should fade as it moves away from the Sun and Earth. The comet was discovered with La Sagra’s CCD-equipped 0.45-m (18″) reflector.
2010 RC130 will brighten up to magnitude 15.0 on October 3 as it closes to within ~10 times Lunar Distance.
Asteroid Type MOID a e i H Mag Discoverer MPEC 2010 SJ Aten 0.050 0.92 0.17 11.5 23.3 19 Catalina 2010-S14 2010 SH Amor 0.150 1.58 0.31 23.1 23.2 20 Mount Lemmon 2010-S13 2010 SF Aten 0.014 0.84 0.22 9.4 25.6 18 Catalina 2010-S09 2010 SE Apollo 0.008 1.05 0.29 20.2 24.1 18 Catalina 2010-S08 2010 SD Apollo 0.021 1.36 0.40 3.4 24.8 19 Mount Lemmon 2010-S07 2010 SC Amor 0.025 1.56 0.34 3.3 26.0 20 Mount Lemmon 2010-S06 2010 SB Amor 0.208 2.90 0.59 7.5 21.9 20 Mount Lemmon 2010-S05 2010 RK135 Amor 0.056 2.46 0.57 4.5 25.6 21 Mount Lemmon 2010-S12 2010 RD130 Apollo 0.024 1.99 0.55 2.2 25.3 21 Mount Lemmon 2010-S04 2010 RC130 Apollo 0.032 2.45 0.58 9.2 21.6 18 LINEAR 2010-S03 2010 RB130 Amor 0.020 2.15 0.52 1.0 24.1 18 Catalina 2010-S02 Comet Type T q a e i Mag Period MPEC P/2010 R2 (La Sagra) MBC 2010-06-25 2.62 3.10 0.15 21.4 18 5.46 2010-S11 Type Aten - Earth crossing with semi-major axis (avg distance from Sun) < 1 AU Apollo - Earth crossing with semi-major axis (avg distance from Sun) > 1 AU Amor - non-Earth crossing with perihelion distance < 1.3 AU JFC - Jupiter family comet HFC - Halley family comet LPC - Long-period comet MBC - Main belt comet T - Date of Perihelion MOID - Minimum Orbit Intercept Distance, minimum distance between asteroid and Earth's orbit a - semi-major axis, average distance from Sun in AU (1 AU = 93 million miles) e - eccentricity i - inclination H - absolute magnitude Mag - magnitude at discovery Discoverer - survey or person who discovered the object MPEC - Minor Planet Electronic Circular, the discovery announcement
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