Long-Lost Comet Barnard 3 Cometh, Oct. 22.

[Dover]

Re-Discovery of Long-Lost Comet Barnard 3
October 9, 2008


Nearly a month ago two Japanese amateur astronomers re-discovered Comet Giacobini which had been lost for 111 years. Now this weekend comes word that an object found by professional astronomer Andrea Boattini of the Catalina Sky Survey is also a re-discovery of a long-lost comet. After Boattini’s find was officially announced, Maik Meyer of Limburg, Germany suggested that this comet was actually the same as a comet last seen on 1892 Dec 8.

Comet Barnard 3 was found by Edward Emerson Barnard of Nashville, TN on 1892 Oct 13. It was the first comet to be discovered with the then new technique of astro-photography. Before this, all comets were discovered by astronomers using only their eyes though many were found while looking through a telescope. The comet was as bright as 12th magnitude in 1892 which is much brighter than its current brightness of 17th magnitude. It is possible that similar to Comet Giacobini, this comet was experiencing an outburst in 1892 that made it brighter than usual. The reason it wasn’t found during the next 116 years was because its usual brightness was too faint for most of the comet searchers. Today thanks to computers and CCD (digital) cameras, the current generation of comet and asteroid surveys can cover a good fraction of the sky to very faint brightnesses....>

http://transientsky.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/re-discovery-of-long-lost-comet-barnard-3/