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COMET P/2026 V1 (LEMMON)

Af(rho) data according the CARA-approach is available via request to CARA-coordinator

http://cara.uai.it

Comet P/2026 V1 (LEMMON) (astro.vanbuitenen.nl)

Discovery: ( CBET 5774 : COMET P/2026 V1 (LEMMON) )

A new comet has been found on CCD images taken by Vivian F. Carvajal with  the Mt. Lemmon Survey's 1.5-m reflector .  She identified a slow-moving object via software developed recently by David Rankin but did not notice any cometary appearance.  Upon looking more closely at the images, Rankin noticed a very condensed, faint coma of size  5".2 and a faint tail 4" long in p.a. 270 degrees. Four follow-up 45-s unfiltered CCD images obtained on Nov. 4.4 UT by K. W.  Wierzchos with the 1-m reflector at the Mt. Lemmon station of Steward Observatory show a diffuse coma of size 4" and a broad 5' tail in p.a. 290

degrees.

     R. Weryk, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western  Ontario, notes that the comet was found as an object of mag 20.4-20.7 but not  reported as cometary in images obtained on Sept. 15.6 UT with the Pan-STARRS1  1.8-m Ritchey-Chretien reflector at Haleakala, HI, USA, and placed in the  Minor Planet Center's "isolated tracklet file" under a different internal

designation; four 45-s w-band survey images taken in 0".9 seeing showed a very condensed head of size 1".2 (full-width-at-half-maximum) with a straight 4"-long tail in p.a. 275 degrees.  Four additional 45-s w-band Pan-STARRS1  images from Oct. 6.5 taken in 1".1 seeing show a very condensed head of size 1".4 (FWHM) with mag 19.4-19.8 and a straight 4"-long tail in p.a. 275 deg.

Weryk also later identified additional pre-discovery observations obtained with the Pan-STARRS2 1.8-m Ritchey-Chretien reflector at Haleakala on Sept. 19.6 (mag 20.1) and on Oct. 20.5 (mag 19.8-19.9)....

     There were 12 reports of cometary activity.

The first report was by D. Rankin.  There were 12 reports of a coma and there were 8 reports of a tail.  Details are provided in the table below.

OC   Date        Reporter            Coma    Tail   PA   Comet     Date

                                                        (T/P)   Reported

F51  2026-09-15  R. Weryk            0".3      4"  275    T   2026-11-04.59

F51  2026-10-06  R. Weryk            0".3      4"  275    T   2026-11-04.59

G96  2026-11-03  D. Rankin           5".2      4"  270    T   2026-11-03.80

I52  2026-11-04  K. W. Wierzchos     4"        5"  290    T   2026-11-04.40

W62  2026-11-04  J. Maikner          4"        6"  275    P   2026-11-05.98

J87  2026-11-05  J. Lacruz           9".8                 T   2026-11-05.21

E62  2026-11-05  B. Lutkenhoner      7"                   T   2026-11-05.98

A71  2026-11-05  M. Jaeger           8"       25"  282    T   2026-11-05.99

J87  2026-11-06  J. Lacruz          16".4                 T   2026-11-06.33

X03  2026-11-07  J. L. Virlichie     4"        4"  279    P   2026-11-07.44

G00  2026-11-08  M. Jaeger           8"       15"  280    T   2026-11-09.51

W68  2026-11-09  A. Fitzsimmons     10"                   T   2026-11-09.58