Comet 1999 K8 LINEAR

1999 K8 LINEAR was yet another faint comet discovered by the LINEAR project. With LINEAR discovering so many comets long before they became bright enough for visual observation, comet hunters were becomming very discouraged. Clearly, visual comet hunting was going to be in for some very lean times! The comet was somewhat unusual in that it hovered around magnitude 13 for about a year, except for a couple of months during mid-2000 when it was too close to the Sun for observation. This was due to the varying distances of the comet from the Sun and the Earth. This fairly constant brightness for so long, is well illustrated in the images below.

Comet 1999 K8 LINEAR August 30, 2000
3 minutes exposure, Meade 416XTE CCD. 300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.

Comet 1999 K8 LINEAR October 28, 2000
Combination of 2, 5 minute images, Meade 416XTE CCD. 300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.

Comet 1999 K8 LINEAR November 4, 2000
3 minutes exposure, Meade 416XTE CCD. 300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.

Comet 1999 K8 LINEAR November 22, 2000
3 minutes exposure, Meade 416XTE CCD. 300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.

Comet 1999 K5 LINEAR January 30, 2001
Combination of 2, 3 minute images, Meade 416XTE CCD. 300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.

Comet 1999 K5 LINEAR June 19, 2001
Combination of 2, 3 minute images, Meade 416XTE CCD. 300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.