Linear C2000 WM

Astro Images

This image of Comet Linear (C/2000 WM) is a 480 second (8 min) image of the comet using a star to guide the telescope. Picture taken November 12, 2001

This image of Comet Linear (C/2000 WM) is a 1200 second (20 min) image of the comet using the comet itself to guide the telescope. Picture taken November 12, 2001

Description: On December 16, 2000, the Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research team's automated 1-meter reflector in New Mexico swept up an apparent asteroid in Cassiopeia (among hundreds of solar-system objects it detected that night). Although only magnitude 18 at the time, the object's unusual motion caught the attention of astronomers at the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massichusetts. After receiving positions for a few more nights, they managed to link the object with a separate set of LINEAR observations dating from mid-November. But it was not until Timothy B. Spahr (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) imaged the object with the 1.2 meter reflector on Mount Hopkins, Arizona, that its true nature became apparent. His image revealed a tiny, 10" coma - and, even more telling, a short, broad tail pointing to the northeast. The newcomer was obviously a comet. Brian G. Marsden's first orbit calculation indicated that this Comet LINEAR, C/2000 WM, was still very remote from the Sun (beyond Jupiter's orbit). But more than a year hence, on January 22, 2002, it would pass just 0.55 astronomical unit (82 million kilometers) from our star. A few weeks before that the comet would swing to within just 0.31 a.u. of Earth.

Telescope: Meade 10" LX200
Focal Length: 2500mm reduced with f6.3 focal reducer
Mount: Takahashi NJP 160
Camera: Starlight XPress MX916
Exposure: 480 seconds (low res star guided image ) and 1200 seconds (high res comet guided image )
Other: N/A

Comet Location: The location of Comet Linear C/2000 WM on November 12, 2001 was just north of star SAO 39078 (Flamsteed-Bayer: 41-Nu Persei) in the constellation Perseus

Astro Images