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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2121      2005 Jun 14 18.39UT
Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise,  Basingstoke,
Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074
INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK             GMH at AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK
WORLD WIDE WEB                         http://www.theastronomer.org
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THE ASTRONOMER ANNUAL MEETING, 2005 OCTOBER 22
We have booked this year's annual meeting for Saturday, October 22 at 
St. Mary's Church Hall, Basingstoke. The meeting is scheduled to start 
at 11.00am and should finish by 6pm.

If anyone would like to give a presentation please e-mail the editor 
with brief details of the topic and duration required.

In the meantime please make a note of this event in your diary and 
further details will be provided in due course.

COMET C/2005 K2 (LINEAR)
David Strange, Worth Maltravers, England, has e-mailed to report an 
apparent secondary condensation in the coma of Comet C/2005 K2 (LINEAR) 
during imaging on 2005 June 13 at 23h 34mUT.

The 30 second exposures with a 0.5-m f/4 telescope and MX916 CCD show 
the condensation a few arcminutes away from the centre in positional 
angle approximately 320 degrees. A series of further exposures of 5x30 
seconds starting at 23h 46mUT and again at 23h 55mUT confirm the 
presence of the secondary condensation.

Mark Kidger, Tenerife, has independently relayed similar news via MSN 
Messenger today. He reports that José Antonio Reyes and Sensi Pastor 
(Observamurcia, Murcia, Spain, MPCJ76) detected a secondary condensation 
in the coma in images taken on June 12 (21:03-21:05UT) and 13 
(21:17-21:20UT) using a 40cm Meade + ST-9XE CCD. The secondary 
condensation moves with the comet, although it is a considerable 
distance down the tail from the main nucleus.

On June 12 it was offset by a mean of 29"E, 25"N from the main nucleus 
and 29"E, 26"N on June 13, although the measures are difficult because 
the object was faint in individual frames. The secondary condensation is 
not resolved in the frames and was 1.4 magnitudes fainter than the 
primary nucleus in a 10" aperture.

They further note that the main nucleus appears elongated in images from 
June 13 and that a bright narrow, jet-like gas tail structure issued 
from the main condensation on June 12, but was gone on the June 13.

Mark also relays that a report has since been received from Montse 
Campàs that the secondary condensation was also detected by Ramón Naves 
and herself at Montcabre Observatory (Barcelona, MPC 213) on the June 10 
with a 0.305-m Meade + ST-9E.

A further e-mail from Giovanni Sostero and Ernest Guido in Italy also 
advises detection of the secondary condensation in their images of 2005 
June 13.16UT and 14.17UT using a 0.25-m Takahashi Epsilon in New Mexico 
and used remotely.

Guy M Hurst