Two Comets Like No Other! Our Latest Findings re. Comets 29P/Schwassmann-Wa

https://www.youtube.com/live/R82WjiONRyU

Talk by Dr Richard Miles (presenting online). We will also have the Sky in October.

These two comets behave like no other. In what way and why? Thanks to contributions from amateurs around the world monitoring their behaviour, we have new answers to these questions. 12P/Pons-Brooks is very like Comet Halley and comes round once every 71 years whereas 29P/S-W completes an almost circular orbit every 15 years and can be seen each year. Hear what has emerged from the latest JWST data on 29P, and MISSION 29P’s data, yet to be published. And what did create those peculiar ‘horns’ of ‘Devil Comet’, 12P?

Dr Richard Miles is a retired research scientist, ex-President of the British Astronomical Association and longtime specialist on asteroids and comets. He remains a keen active observer, having had an observatory of sorts since about the age of nine. Three years ago, he moved to Cerne Abbas, Dorset, and now uses remote telescopes over the internet exclusively. He helps run projects involving amateur astronomers from around the world. MISSION 29P is the main project operating as part of the BAA’s Comet Section activities. It has been running since 2014 and this year’s (2024‒2025) apparition attracted 45 observers using 62 telescopes.

Host or Publisher The Astronomical Society of Edinburgh