C/2002 X5 Kudo-Fujikawa on
2003 Feb 10.46 UT
Star to the lower right is Nu Gruis. Dust tail is about 1 degree long.
This visual discovery was made by Tetuo Kudo on 2002 Dec. 13.8UT at RA15 44
Dec+45 30', estimating a magnitude of 9.5
An independent visual discovery was made by Shigehisa Fujikawa the following
morning.
The comet had a very close encounter with the Sun on 2003 January 29 at 0.19AU
and its survival was at risk.
I made my first observation of comet on the
evening of February 7th, 2003
when the comet was a mere 23 degrees from the Sun.
Through 25x100mm binoculars,
the comet shone at magnitude 5.7 with a dust tail stretching over half a degree
to the south
On
2003 Feb 10.46 UT, the fast fading comet shone at visual magnitude 6.7
Then, a minor outburst seems to have occurred on Feb 25th, when I estimated it to
be one magnitude
brighter than predicted.
This is clearly seen in my light-curve below.
By March 5th, the comet had further faded to magnitude 8.2
2003 March 5.49 UT
CCD image taken through
C11 telescope operating at f/3.3, 5x20 sec combined exposures.
The image below has been digitally processed to reveal detail in the ion
tail.
My last observation occurred on April 4th when I estimated it at magnitude 12.5.
See below a light curve based on my personal observations.
Red curve - Predicted magnitude parameters. Ho=10, n=4
Orange curve - Calculated magnitude parameters. Ho=8.8, n=3.1
My observations in ICQ format below
