Latest on Comet Pons-Gambart

I last reported on newly (re)-discovered comet C/2012 V4 back on December 8. Though comet C/2012 V4 has been linked with Comet Pons-Gambart which was last seen in 1827, it still has not been officially named Pons-Gambart.

Earthbound observers estimated it at magnitude 8.5 to 9.5 during the first half of December. Unfortunately the comet is now too close to the Sun to be seen from Earth. It won’t be seen again till sometime in mid to late January. How bright it’ll be at that time is debatable. There has been some talk on the comets-ml list that the comet continued to brighten after perihelion in 1827. If true and if the comet behaves the same way, the comet may still be bright enough at the end of January for small telescope observers.

As mentioned in my December 8 posting, one of the STEREO sun watching spacecraft has not only had a clear view of the comet but the comet passed within ~0.28 AU of the spacecraft on December 12. The movie below shows the comet rapidly brightening and displaying a lengthening tail as the comet zips past STEREO-B and off its camera FOV. Note that the tail on the last few frames almost extends from one edge of the field to the other. It is a clear reminder of how our view of a comet (faint and not much to get excited about from Earth while a naked eye object with a 20+ deg long tail from STEREO-B) is dependent on our viewing conditions.