Tootfinder

The #comet 220P/McNaught has suffered a major outburst and shines now - in this Rhemann / Jäger image from a few hours ago with a faint plasma tail even - at about 8th magnitude: https://groups.io/g/comets-ml/topic/119599952 = a thread, https://bsky.app/profile/lukemeister.bsky.social/post/3mndaubc3yc2o = the light curve, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=26645019731865080 and https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10240107345718051 and https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2951292725202094 and https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4432053177009520 and https://x.com/kpheider/status/2061792077248360768 = pictures from 2 June.

Electron Affinity of the Carbon Dimer from Threshold Photodetachment Spectroscopy: #comet spectra) -> Prä­zi­si­ons­mes­sung lie­fert neuen Rekord­wert: https://www.uibk.ac.at/de/newsroom/2026/prazisionsmessung-liefert-neuen-rekordwert/ - ein Team um den Inns­bru­cker Physiker Roland Wester hat eine funda­men­tale Eigen­schaft des Kohlen­stoff-Dimers mit bisher uner­reichter Genau­ig­keit im Labor bestimmt.

On 5 August the brightness of #comet 220P/McNaught suddenly jumped by a factor of ~300 to 6-7 mag.: https://skyweek.wordpress.com/2026/08/05/allgemeines-live-blog-ab-dem-5-august-2026/#Aug07 - should be easy to find near µ Ceti in the morning.

A Potential Signature of HD 7977's Passage Among Observed Long-Period #Comet Orbits: https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.25069 -> Long-Period Comets’ Orbits Reflect Close Passage by Star HD 7977: https://www.psi.edu/blog/long-period-comets-orbits-reflect-close-passage-by-star-hd-7977/

Observing session on #Comet P10/Tempel during an earthquake at the Kottamia Astrophysical Observatory (MPC Q62, Egypt): https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=17942 -> illustrations https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1O44wDk_MW0H52MU995R_Y7hlCi59Ku31/edit?slide=id.p2#slide=id.p2 and https://web.oapd.inaf.it/bedin/files/PAPERs_eMATERIALs/ATel/10P/ATEL_10P_period_caption_of_the_figures.pdf

Investigation of Split #Comet 240P/NEAT: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ae83ac -> Spying on a Split Comet: https://aasnova.org/2026/07/31/spying-on-a-split-comet/