COMET BARNARD is back after 117 years

Comet Barnard is back for the first time since it was
discovered back in June 1889, a few days past perhelion, using his 6" telescope. This would suggest a visual magnitude of no less than 11.

This time around the comet is substantially closer and it wouldn't suprise me if it got into visual range for large binoculars. Probably (hopefully) this will be the case. However, one has to take note of the descriptions of the comet in 1889. Almost all observers reported a very diffuse
object with no or only slight condensation. Of course the comet was then more than one AU from Earth and receding and most observers were using large instruments with high magnification.

This time the comet will be as close to Earth as about 0.35 AU and it will be
interesting to see if it will be a large and diffuse object or if it shows some
condensation.

The comet should be already brighter to match the 1889s data (With the brightness of 1889 a maximum of 8 mag in July/August 2006 might be possible.) It should be monitored closely (also visually) in order to follow its brightness evolution.

Just before the recovery, it passed very near by Nova Sgr 2006 = V5117 Sgr discovered last February. It also passed through M7.

And it will overlaps on a globular cluster NGC 6401 soon.

2006 June 10 16h UT 0.273 deg ( 16.4 arcmin)
P/1889 M1 ( Barnard 2 ) 18h00m.1 -36o42' 17.4 mag
Nova Sgr 2006 17h58m.9 -36o48' 14.0 mag

2006 June 14 14h UT 0.570 deg ( 34.2 arcmin)
P/1889 M1 ( Barnard 2 ) 17h55m.7 -34o23' 16.9 mag
M7 (OC) 80' 17h53m.9 -34o49' 3.3 mag

2006 June 26 16h UT 0.053 deg ( 3.2 arcmin)
P/1889 M1 ( Barnard 2 ) 17h38m.4 -23o56' 15.6 mag
NGC6401 (Gb) 5.6' 17h38m.6 -23o55' 9.5 mag

Eamonn A

Eamonn,

This is wonderful news and a great photo opportunity. Thank you!

Anthony.

Eamonn,

I have tried to get the ephemerides from the Minor Planet Center at Harvard without any luck? Can you suggest a source?

Thanx!

Anthony.

Anthony,

I got this from JPL. Hope you can decipher the RA & DEC. Eamonn A
**************************************************************************************************************
Date__(UT)__HR:MN R.A._(ICRF/J2000.0)_DEC T-mag N-mag delta deldot S-O-T /r S-T-O
**************************************************************************************************************
$$SOE
2006-Jun-25 00:00 17 39 46.57 -25 51 36.5 n.a. n.a. .480827056197492 -15.8619867 171.8301 /T 5.5450
2006-Jun-26 00:00 17 38 12.27 -24 48 40.0 n.a. n.a. .471830045862920 -15.2907852 170.7565 /T 6.3132
2006-Jun-27 00:00 17 36 37.07 -23 43 14.1 n.a. n.a. .463166653627402 -14.7067958 169.5071 /T 7.2105
2006-Jun-28 00:00 17 35 01.15 -22 35 17.9 n.a. n.a. .454844194891585 -14.1102716 168.1239 /T 8.2095
2006-Jun-29 00:00 17 33 24.71 -21 24 51.4 n.a. n.a. .446869817787665 -13.5015402 166.6363 /T 9.2910
2006-Jun-30 00:00 17 31 47.92 -20 11 55.2 n.a. n.a. .439250456523875 -12.8810168 165.0650 /T 10.4413
2006-Jul-01 00:00 17 30 11.00 -18 56 30.7 n.a. n.a. .431992776902192 -12.2492178 163.4247 /T 11.6505
2006-Jul-02 00:00 17 28 34.12 -17 38 40.2 n.a. n.a. .425103113406577 -11.6067758 161.7258 /T 12.9113
2006-Jul-03 00:00 17 26 57.47 -16 18 27.0 n.a. n.a. .418587398536284 -10.9544518 159.9766 /T 14.2179
2006-Jul-04 00:00 17 25 21.25 -14 55 55.4 n.a. n.a. .412451086149493 -10.2931430 158.1834 /T 15.5654
2006-Jul-05 00:00 17 23 45.64 -13 31 10.4 n.a. n.a. .406699071408249 -9.6238866 156.3518 /T 16.9497
2006-Jul-06 00:00 17 22 10.81 -12 04 18.5 n.a. n.a. .401335610465390 -8.9478569 154.4866 /T 18.3669
2006-Jul-07 00:00 17 20 36.93 -10 35 26.9 n.a. n.a. .396364243258613 -8.2663577 152.5923 /T 19.8132
2006-Jul-08 00:00 17 19 04.19 -09 04 43.7 n.a. n.a. .391787722544013 -7.5808084 150.6729 /T 21.2848
2006-Jul-09 00:00 17 17 32.73 -07 32 18.4 n.a. n.a. .387607951394209 -6.8927289 148.7327 /T 22.7781
2006-Jul-10 00:00 17 16 02.71 -05 58 21.0 n.a. n.a. .383825929663222 -6.2037249 146.7758 /T 24.2893
2006-Jul-11 00:00 17 14 34.27 -04 23 02.4 n.a. n.a. .380441707604314 -5.5154779 144.8064 /T 25.8145
2006-Jul-12 00:00 17 13 07.56 -02 46 34.3 n.a. n.a. .377454342818403 -4.8297440 142.8284 /T 27.3497
2006-Jul-13 00:00 17 11 42.71 -01 09 09.0 n.a. n.a. .374861856475389 -4.1483570 140.8463 /T 28.8908
2006-Jul-14 00:00 17 10 19.84 +00 29 00.6 n.a. n.a. .372661187391888 -3.4732308 138.8641 /T 30.4338
2006-Jul-15 00:00 17 08 59.09 +02 07 41.5 n.a. n.a. .370848147476992 -2.8063512 136.8863 /T 31.9745
2006-Jul-16 00:00 17 07 40.57 +03 46 40.5 n.a. n.a. .369417386713633 -2.1497506 134.9169 /T 33.5086
2006-Jul-17 00:00 17 06 24.40 +05 25 44.2 n.a. n.a. .368362377398335 -1.5054672 132.9603 /T 35.0322
2006-Jul-18 00:00 17 05 10.70 +07 04 39.6 n.a. n.a. .367675424997359 -0.8754950 131.0205 /T 36.5412
2006-Jul-19 00:00 17 03 59.58 +08 43 14.1 n.a. n.a. .367347708342851 -0.2617337 129.1015 /T 38.0315
2006-Jul-20 00:00 17 02 51.15 +10 21 15.5 n.a. n.a. .367369347451066 0.3340561 127.2072 /T 39.4996
2006-Jul-21 00:00 17 01 45.50 +11 58 32.2 n.a. n.a. .367729494486785 0.9102881 125.3412 /T 40.9417
2006-Jul-22 00:00 17 00 42.73 +13 34 53.6 n.a. n.a. .368416442396982 1.4655763 123.5068 /T 42.3547
2006-Jul-23 00:00 16 59 42.93 +15 10 09.8 n.a. n.a. .369417745806901 1.9987516 121.7070 /T 43.7354
2006-Jul-24 00:00 16 58 46.17 +16 44 12.1 n.a. n.a. .370720349204249 2.5088704 119.9448 /T 45.0812
2006-Jul-25 00:00 16 57 52.51 +18 16 52.4 n.a. n.a. .372310717863135 2.9952159 118.2226 /T 46.3895

Thank for the heads up, we'll keep and eye out for it.

Juan Lacruz of La Cañada Observatory (MPC J87) has produced a recovery confirmation image of the return of comet P/1889 M1 Barnard, which can be seen here .