Comet White–Ortiz–Bolelli
Comet White–Ortiz–Bolelli (formal designations: C/1970 K1, 1970 VI, and 1970f) was a bright
Discovery
Comet White–Ortiz–Bolelli was first spotted on May 16 by Albert and Ronald Snelgar on May 16 in Halls Creek, Western Australia, and then into the Northern Territory on successive nights. They advised the discovery to Halls Creek police who disregarded the discovery. It was then officially discovered on May 18 by Graeme White, an Australian amateur astronomer in Wollongong, New South Wales. He sighted the comet in binoculars shortly after sunset, and described it as having a star-like head at apparent magnitude 1-2, and a short tail about 1 degree long. He spotted it again on May 20 by naked eye as well as binoculars, and by this time the tail had grown to 10° in length.
The second independent discovery was made on May 21 by Air France pilot Emilio Ortiz, from a location about 400 km east of Madagascar. Ortiz saw the comet from his cockpit, and reported a magnitude of 0.5 to 1.0 and a tail about 5–8° long. A few hours later, Carlos Bolelli, a technician at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile became the third independent discoverer of the comet, although he saw only the tail, as the head was beneath the horizon.
Subsequent observations
Numerous independent discoveries were made in the days immediately following the comet's discovery, but
Throughout the comet's brief appearance, it could only be seen low in the sky for a short time after sunset, but it was most easily visible on May 24. After that it faded rapidly, and by 1 June it had already faded to below naked-eye visibility. The last definite detection of the comet was made on June 7, when it appeared as a faint, ill-defined nebulosity. Increasing moonlight and the comet's decreasing brightness prevented any further visual sightings of the comet.
Orbit
The comet's sudden appearance very close to the Sun and rapid subsequent decline in brightness both pointed to it being a
The calculated orbit pinned down White-Ortiz-Bolelli as a member of the
Before White–Ortiz–Bolelli, studies had divided the Kreutz Sungrazers into two sub-groups, originating from fragmentations at different orbits, but White-Ortiz-Bolelli seemed to be a member of neither. Studies showed that it probably broke away from the comet that spawned Subgroup II, before the main fragmentation, and it was classed as the first (and so far only) member of Subgroup IIa.
Having an observation
References
- ^ a b c "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: C/1970 K1 (White-Ortiz-Bolelli)" (1970-06-06 last obs). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Archived from the original on 2020-08-01. Retrieved 2023-08-31.
- Roemer E. (1970), Comet Notes, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, v. 82, p. 928