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Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin)

Discovery:

Leonid Elenin (Lyubertsy, Russia) discovered this comet on four images obtained during the period of 2010 December 10.42-10.46 using the 45-cm astrograph and a CCD camera at the International Scientific Optical Network's robotic observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico. The magnitude was given as 19.5-19.6. The first confirmation came from A. Sergeyev and A. Novichonok(Majdanak Observatory, Uzbekistan), when they obtained four images during December 10.99-11.00 using the 1.5-m reflector and a CCD camera. The magnitude was given as 19.1 and the comet was described as a "teardrop-shaped, very diffuse coma." This coma was 6 arc seconds across and exhibited a nuclear condensation of magnitude 20.7, while a tail extended 10-12 arc seconds toward PA 298 degrees.

The comet's location in the sky made it increasingly more difficult for observers in the Northern Hemisphere and no observations were made after June.

Comet Elenin started disintegrating in August 2011, and as of mid-October 2011 was not visible even using large ground-based telescopes.

Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin)  -  Kronk’s Cometography