Comet 1999 T3 LINEAR

Comet 1999 T3 LINEAR was a very faint comet discovered, like so many others in the late 1990's and early 2000's, by the Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project. The comet was observed for over 2 years, remaining for the most part below 17th magnitude. However in August of 2000, it briefly became 16th magnitude.

Comet 1999 T3 LINEAR August 30, 2000
Combination of 2, 3 minute images, Meade 416XTE CCD. 300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.

At this time the comet was passing through a region with numerous faint galaxies. These are shown more clearly in the image below, which is the same as the one above, however the individual frames have been aligned on the stars instead of the comet.

Comet 1999 T3 LINEAR August 30, 2000.

Comet 1999 T3 LINEAR January 30, 2001
Combination of 4, 3 minute images, Meade 416XTE CCD. 300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.

Comet 1999 T3 LINEAR June 19, 2001
Combination of 2, 3 minute images, Meade 416XTE CCD. 300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.