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C/2012 L2 (LINEAR)


On June 1, 2012 the LINEAR project discovered a 19.5 mag asteroidal object near the border of the constellations Cepheus/Cassiopeia, which proved to be a comet. Comet C/2012 L2 (LINEAR) showed a medium condensed 12" coma of total magnitude 18.5 and the hint of a tail. It will pass perihelion in May 2013 and could reach 12.0 mag (CBET 3135 / MPEC 2012-L43). On Sep. 16 it will pass the Northern Pole at a distance of only 1/4°. It should be brighter than 16.0 mag between October 2012 and the end of November 2013. During these months it will move through the constellations Draco, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Triangulum, Aries and Taurus, heading towards Puppis and Centaurus. For mid-European locations it will be a circumstellar object during the first months, becoming an evening object in January 2013 and will disappear above the western horizon in mid-April.

During the winter months 2012/13 this comet showed a very positive evolution, becoming brighter than initially expected. Based on 9 observations by 3 members of the German Comet Section and 50 international reports, the brightness evolution is well represented by the formula

m = 5.9 mag + 5×log D + 15×log r

with which a maximum of 10.3 mag in the first days of May 2013 results. During the apparition the coma diameter increased from 0.3' (30.000 km) to a maximum of 3.5' (350.000 km) during early May. Thereafter it decreased rather rapidly, measuring only 1.5' (160.000 km) at the start of July. The comet showed a rather diffuse coma with the degree of condensation estimated between DC 2 and DC 3 (March/April).

Total Brightness and Coma Diameter

Andreas Kammerer

FGK observations


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