Comet 1999J3 LINEAR December 7, 1999.
240 second exposure, SBIG ST4 CCD.
300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.
While observing faint outlying globular clusters belonging to the Small Magellanic Cloud, I came across one object that was not on my charts. A careful study showed that the object was clearly a comet at around 11th magnitude! Was this a discovery!!???? Alas not! A phone call to the Perth Observatory showed that this was comet 1999J3 LINEAR, a comet that had been widely observed during October from the northern hemisphere, where it put on a nice display for northern hemisphere observers during late 1999, peaking at about 7th magnitude during September. Unfortunately, by the time it was visible from the southern hemisphere, it was fading quickly.
Interestingly, while recently examining some of my film images, I discovered that I had actually imaged the comet several weeks before I found it on December 7. On October 10, 1999, I had taken a photograph of NGC 104, the spectacular globular cluster close to the Small Magellanic Cloud. To my surprise there was a small, greenish object close to the cluster which proved to be comet 1999 J3! It just goes to show how important it is to carefully examine each photograph straight away!!!!
My final observation of the comet was on May 5, 2000, when the comet was below 17th magnitude.
