[BAA Comets] P/2010 V1 (Ikeya-Murakami)

[Nick James]

This fragmenting comet continues to provide a lot of interest. In a 
recent CBET Zdenek Sekanina writes a fascinating description of the 
evolution of the fragments following the 2010 break-up:

http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/004200/CBET004250.txt

The brightest object is fragment C which wasn't even visible a few weeks 
ago. The original B fragment has almost disappeared and is now just a 
faint cloud to the west of C. Fragment A, which was the brightest 
component, has now faded but still shows a short tail to the south.

On comets-ml there are images of fainter fragments to the west of A.

http://6888comete.free.fr/fr/imageP2010V1IkeyaMurakamifrance.htm
http://i.imgur.com/ZlqegAZ.png

These are identified as fragment D.

My image from last night doesn't go deep enough to show D but it does 
show A and C and (possibly) B:

http://www.nickdjames.com/Comets/2016/2010v1_20160203_2030_ndj.jpg

Other images submitted to the section archive can be found here:

http://www.britastro.org/cometobs/2010v1/index.html

We've also received recent images from Mike Olason in Denver which 
should be uploaded shortly.

If you have suitable equipment please keep this very interesting comet 
under observation.

Nick James. Director, BAA Comet Section.