Hi Erik,

That is a very interesting observation but I think that these are just
denser clumps of dust in the expanding coma. It is definitely worth
keeping them under observation as frequently as possible. This comet is
large and has survived many returns and so it is unlikely that any major
disruption to the nucleus will occur this time around.

Even though the total magnitude is holding constant the peak brightness
of photocentre is falling back towards its preoutburst state. I've
plotted slices through the coma using images from around 1 day before
the outburst and then 1, 2 and 3 days after. As of last night the peak
was around 4x the preoutburst peak. The animation shows the developing
structures in the coma.

Richard - Do you have any images from the 2.0m telescopes that you can
share?

Nick.

On 18/11/2023 08:41, Erik Bryssinck wrote:
> Hi Nick,
>
> my brief observation, in poor transparency, with Bessel-R filter of comet 12P/PONS-BROOKS shows a "possible" hint of splitting (or is it wishfull thinking ?) I see a "possibility" of 2 fragments , with the faintest at a distance of ca. 4 arcsec in p.a.  of 45°.
> Below the astrometry of the - possible - 2 components.
>
> 0012P         C2023 11 17.80388 18 04 02.07 +39 47 30.7               R      B96
> 0012P         C2023 11 17.80388 18 04 02.49 +39 47 34.3               R      B96
>
> Has anyone noticed this too ?  Obviously several observations will be needed to confirm this or not.
>
> ___________________________________
> Kind regards,
>
> Erik Bryssinck
>
> BRIXIIS Observatory (MPC:B96)
> http://www.astronomie.be/erik.bryssinck/
> ___________________________________
> CARA - Cometary Archive for Af(rho) : http://cara.uai.it
> BAA - British Astronomical Association : https://britastro.org
> VVS - Belgian association for amateur astronomers : http://www.vvs.be
>
>
>
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: baa-comet@simplelists.com [mailto:baa-comet@simplelists.com] Namens Nick James
> Verzonden: zaterdag 18 november 2023 4:01
> Aan: baa-comet@simplelists.com
> Onderwerp: Re: [BAA Comets] Re: 12P interesting inner coma developing
>
> The inner bright coma of 12P is showing quite a bit of detail now. This image is from Nov 17 at 1906 UTC taken with the Alnitak telescope in Spain. This is 4 arcmin square, N up, E left. 20x60s. The dark lane is now quite prominent and there appear to be two blobs of material to the north and north east. There is also a brighter outer coma area to the southwest.
>
> Can anyone confirm these features?
>
> Nick
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