Вот сообщения:
Some details and follow-ups on this object:
Yiran Wu (39.979deg N, 116.299deg E, northwest suburb of Beijing)
found the object in Aries by naked-eye and immediately reported to me
at 11:21 UT (hereafter). Her estimation of total magnitude is
about -2 ("somewhat bighter than Sirius").
I myself (39.883deg N, 116.617deg E) saw the object with a 12x60
binocular. The object had a typical cometary apperance with a
slightly curved tail towards SE-E, at 11:24. Core magnitude was about
+0.5, total magnitude about -1.5.
Hongbin Li at Xinglong Station, NAOC (40.396deg N, 117.578deg E,
mountain top; MPC code: 327) asked me via internet if there is a very
bright comet in the western sky at 11:34. But he said that he found
that object about 20min earlier.
The 0.8-m Tsinghua-NAOC telescope had pointed in turn to 179P and
150P since 11:40, but found it was neither of them.
Yiran Wu reported the object, especially the core, was rapidly
fading, at 11:43. And could no longer found it since ~11:59. Hongbin
Li also found the object was expanding, decaying and slowly moving
toward the north, and finally disappeared to naked-eye at 12:14, near
382 Per.
Indeed it seems to be the fuel dump as you supposed.. My apologies
for the false alert.
Kind regards,
Huan
Just a quick note:
There seems to be a GREAT comet in the western sky at this moment in
Beijing. In binocular it is very spectacular with a bright fan-like
tail generally toward the anti-solar direction. The total magnitude
may be 0 or -1 so something like that. I have contacted my colleagues
in the western part of city of Beijing and they have confirmed the
findings. Meanwhile, the staff in Xinglong station, National
Astronomical Observatories of China, also reported to me that they
see the same bright object. We are managing to take CCD images and
spectrum of that. But this may be difficult since it is very low and
still setting.
Observers in West Asia and Europe, PLEASE point your eyes and
telescope to catch the event!
I'll send more information later..
Clear skies to all!
Huan Meng
