Two interesting Comet Discoveries

A pair of comets have found their way into the Meteor Watch Blog today. One discovery is about a comet that was discovered 150 years ago, the other is about a brand new comet.

The first discovery centers around Comet Tuttle. This one was discovered way back in 1858 by American Astronomer Horace Tuttle. It orbits the sun about every 13.6 years. John Harmon and his team at Areicibo Observatory made radar observations of the comet and found that it is actually made up of two separate bodies that are rotating around each other. The separate bodies are small, measuring 4.5 and 5.6 KM across. The two objects rotate around each other about every 11 and a half hours.

Astronomers have long suspected that Tuttle had a rather unusual shape because the Hubble Telescope was able to detect varying degrees of brightness with time. Now they have specific proof that Tuttle is indeed not onle one oddly shaped comet, but it is also two comets in one.

The other discovery was made by an Itallian astronomer named, Andrea Boattini. He found his fifth comet in less than a year. It will be named P/2008 T1, and will also be known as Boattini T1. Boattini has also discovered 170 asteroids in his career, and is noted for find the closest orbiting asteroid to the sun. Quite an accomplishment!