[BAA Comets] Comet 29P: BAA-inspired papers now published

[Richard Miles]

You may be interested to know that the results of many years of 
multinational amateur observations of Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, which 
have been analysed and written up along with a proposed new mechanism to 
explain the energetic outbursts of this Centaur and some Jupiter-family 
comets, have been published today in Volume 272 of the journal, Icarus.

Free access (until 2016 May 31) to the three published articles is available 
here:

http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1SsDL4L-YET6v

http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1SsDL4L-YET4X

http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1SsDL4L-YIG1S

You can download a pdf file of each from these websites, or read them 
online.

Since these papers were written, an even closer watch has been kept on 29P 
and some interesting new findings are coming to light. Not only are its 
strong outbursts of great interest but, increasingly, we are seeing unusual 
behaviour of the comet in the 'quieter' intervals between outbursts.

Although the comet is currently well south of the celestial equator at 
about -25deg Declination, it has largely moved away from the denser regions 
of the Milky Way and in coming years will be heading further north where it 
will be even more favourably placed for observation. Comet Section CCD 
observers in particular are encouraged to monitor the comet for activity. An 
article with guidance for prospective observers will appear in the Comet's 
Tale newsletter.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mark Kidger, who first 
drew my attention to this particular comet and highlighted its importance as 
a worthwhile target to study . Mark has been a fan of outbursting comets for 
many years, having published an article about the 1991 outburst of Comet 
97P/Metcalf-Brewington in Earth Moon and Planets (Vol. 63, 179-185, 1993). 
And then of course we had the unforgettable display from Comet 17P/Holmes in 
2007.

Richard Miles