2006 P1 (McNaught)

[Blob]

Comet Prospects for 2007

2007 is a poor year for returning comets and whilst it sees the possible return of 30 periodic comets only a few of these are likely to come within range of visual observation with moderate apertures. 8P/Tuttle may reach binocular brightness at the end of the year, though strictly it belongs with the comets of 2008. The highlight may be comet 2006 P1 (McNaught), although it has a faint absolute magnitude and may not survive perihelion.) 96P/Machholz should reach 2nd magnitude as it passes through the satellite coronagraph field at perihelion in early April, however it will be 9th magnitude by the time its elongation increases sufficiently for ground based observation in late April. UK observers may pick it up in the morning sky, but it will be a fading telescopic object. The orbit is very unusual, with the smallest perihelion distance of any proven short period comet (0.13 AU), which is decreasing further with time, a high eccentricity (0.96) and a high inclination (60°).

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Orbital Elements

The following orbital elements are taken from MPC 51822: 
Epoch 2007 Apr. 10.0 TT = JDT 2454200.5
T 2007 Apr. 4.6194 TT                                   MPC
q   0.124618             (2000.0)            P               Q
n   0.1881482      Peri.   14.6181      -0.2027322      -0.4629182
a   3.016264       Node    94.5507      +0.7888859      -0.5992693
e   0.958684       Incl.   59.9553      +0.5801368      +0.6531333
P   5.24
From 133 observations 1986-2002, mean residual 0".8.  Nongravitational
     parameters A1 = +0.01, A2 = -0.0002.

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2002 Hotshots
Astronomy magazine podcast: Don Machholz and Comet 96P
Orbital elements and diagram

http://www.bautforum.com/showthread....light=Machholz

Comet 96P/Machholz 1 is observable as a morning sky object in the Northern Hemisphere.
By the end of the month it will become observable in the Southern Hemisphere.

Date    TT    R. A. (2000) Decl.     Delta      r     Elong.  Phase   m1    m2
2007 03 31    01 02.06   -04 16.3    1.138    0.239    10.4    49.3   5.8  17.0
2007 04 05    01 14.90   +10 54.5    1.001    0.126     7.2    86.2   2.2  16.5
2007 04 10    00 37.30   +19 20.8    0.887    0.264    14.5   108.4   5.8  18.9
2007 04 15    00 02.56   +21 32.0    0.833    0.422    24.4   101.0   8.1  19.4
2007 04 20    23 34.20   +22 08.9    0.795    0.564    34.1    93.7   9.5  19.6
2007 04 25    23 09.36   +22 10.0    0.763    0.693    43.5    87.3  10.5  19.7
2007 04 30    22 46.00   +21 52.8    0.731    0.811    52.8    81.4  11.2  19.7

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/...e-c3-1024.html

[Blob]

Whoops,
that title should have been Comet 96P/Machholz 1

[Blob]

The weird orbit:

[Blob]

After the notable comet (C/2006 P1) 2 months ago. The camera of the solar observation satellite SOHO, has spotted another comet that is now in range of the vision of LASCO C3.
Currently, the wide view of LASCO C3, has just captured comet (96P) as it is passing, (the comet approached the earth before in 2005 January (C/2004 Q2)).

The comet with a period of 5.2 years (revolution period) (96P), perihelion distance approximately 0.12 astronomical units (1 astronomical units is the distance to the sun) due to the extremely favourable geometry with the earth the comet will rapidly increase in brightness at the closest solar approach. This time it is within the range of vision of SOHO, and it becomes as bright as magnitude 2, after that it is expected to drop to magnitude 8 by the middle of April in the dawn sky.

Source (Japanese)

[Siguy]

I really wanted to see 96P, but it'll be raining for the next week. It would probably be a lot of effort to see it anyway.