[BAA Comets] Intense outburst of Comet 29P on 2015 July 23 discovered by JF Soulier

[Richard Miles]

Comet 29P is currently exhibiting a bright (R=12.2) outburst as discovered 
by Jean-François Soulier using the SpaceObs facility at San Pedro de 
Atacama, Chile. Discovery was announced by private e-mail on 2015 July 24 
00:11.

The following summarises selected astrometry/photometry carried out by 
active observers monitoring this most enigmatic comet, from which it can be 
seen that the most probable time of outburst was 2015 07 23.70 +/-0.22 :

W96: Jean-François Soulier, Alain Maury; 0.4-m f/8 R-C (Chile)
E94: John Drummond; 0.35-m f/10 S-C (New Zealand)
467: Grant Christie; 0.40-m f/10 S-C (New Zealand)
F65: Richard Miles; 2.0-m f/10 S-C (Hawaii)

NET UCAC-4
0029P         C2015 07 21.09352 17 20 52.00 -30 54 57.0          16.4 N 
W96
0029P         C2015 07 21.54638 17 20 42.79 -30 54 10.5          16.8 N 
467
0029P         C2015 07 22.09279 17 20 32.07 -30 53 16.5          16.3 N 
W96
0029P         C2015 07 23.02373 17 20 14.12 -30 51 42.5          16.7 N 
W96
0029P         C2015 07 23.14714 17 20 11.63 -30 51 29.6          16.4 N 
W96
0029P         C2015 07 23.18943 17 20 10.80 -30 51 24.1          16.6 N 
W96
0029P         C2015 07 23.36786 17 20 07.50 -30 51 06.7          16.0 N 
E94
0029P         C2015 07 23.37131 17 20 07.40 -30 51 07.6          16.3 N 
F65
0029P         C2015 07 23.41943 17 20 06.50 -30 51 01.5          16.5 N 
E94
0029P         C2015 07 23.98193 17 19 56.14 -30 50 04.5          12.3 N 
W96
0029P         C2015 07 24.07041 17 19 54.44 -30 49 55.6          12.3 N 
W96
0029P         C2015 07 24.17745 17 19 52.41 -30 49 44.5          12.3 N 
W96
0029P         C2015 07 24.27450 17 19 50.61 -30 49 34.3          12.2 N 
W96

The last 3 outbursts (May 06, Jul 11 and Jul 23) have been the most intense 
series of such events since 2008Dec - 2009Feb. A new season of intense 
activity is now underway.

The latest few outbursts have been separated by 69 d, 66 d and now 12 d: 
this last event may have been triggered by the previous outburst in that 
Comet 29P generally exhibits a bimodal distribution of time intervals 
between outbursts. Further observation of 29P during this period of enhanced 
activity is strongly encouraged especially since another outburst may be 
triggered in the near future.

Richard Miles
British Astronomical Association