C/2001 N2
(LINEAR) is another of the many objects reported as asteroids by the LINEAR
telescope and later shown to have cometary activity. The object was detected in
LINEAR images taken on
The light curve
The
light curve shows the comet to be a relatively faint object with a only a
rather slow rate of brightening on approach to the Sun. Maximum brightness was
expected to be reached close to opposition in July 2002.
The
light curve shows a somewhat puzzling phenomenon in that most of the data taken
in 2001 shows excellent agreement, but a few points are found to be extremely
discrepant. The reason for this may be errors in the source catalogue used for
photometry.
Maximum
was reached in summer 2002 and since then the comet has declined sharply in
brightness.
CCD observations in a 10 arcsecond aperture
by:
Última actualización 22/05/2003
Por M.R.Kidger