A comet was found in an amateur telescope

A comet was found in an amateur telescope

A group of astronomers noticed a comet last week. They use a network of 14 cm telescopes around the world, scanning the sky every 2-3 nights for supernova searches. But this time they noticed a comet.

The discoverer’s honor went to José Prieto - Professor at the University Diego Portales (Chile). He saw that the light source was different from ordinary transients and looked wider relative to standard stars.

The team guessed that she was looking at something new that had not yet been noted in the catalog. Comets move extremely rapidly, so it was a great success to notice her that night. With the help of a network of telescopes, research participants tracked the trajectory of its flight for three days.

Then she lost her brightness. Perhaps the comet experienced a flash event and threw away dust and gas, which increased the envelope around the ice core.

Comet ASASSN1 is moving towards the inner solar system and will be visible for several more months.

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