In spring 1997 comet C/1996 J1 (Evans-Drinkwater) broken in two discrete components. This image, obtained on 1997 June 22, show the "double" comet a few months after the splitting. At that time component A (leftmost) and B had total magnitude 14.7 and 14.2 respectively.

Comet 1993e (Shoemaker-Levy 9) was first observed at Sormano in the night March 26/27, 1993. The bar-like aspect revealed to be composed by several nuclei (approximately twenty, having a size of the order of one kilometer) produced by the fragmentation of a greater celestial body a few months earlier.

Some principal condensations are visible in an enlarged CCD view taken with a focal lenght of 3 m, few minutes after the previous image. In July 1994 comet 1993e crashed on Jupiter atmosphere giving birth at one of the most celebrated events in the story of the observational astronomy.

Approaching its perihelion, comet C/1996 Q1 disgregated under the action of solar heat and gravity. At the time of this image, taken on Nov. 2, 1996, any attempt to obtain consistent astrometric positions was unsuccesful. Was comet nucleus still existent?

Events in dust tails

Cometary dust tails may shown internal structures. This was the case of the Great Comet of 1997 where the rare phenomenon called "striae" appeared during March, with its acme around days 16-20. This photograph was obtained at Sormano on March 20 using the 20 cm, f/5 astrograph. Exposure 20 min on TP4415 film.

The difference between asteroids and comets may be not always so clear. Minor planet 1979 OW7 at its second opposition displayed a filiform dust tail never seen before. This object is now redesignated as comet P/1996 N2 (Elst-Pizarro). The reasons for this unexpected unique feature remain obscure. This CCD image was obtained at Sormano on 1996 Aug. 22.

This unfiltered CCD image, obtained at Sormano on 2001 Nov. 19.962 UT, shows the elusive appearance of the anti-tail (pointed by the red arrow) of C/2000 WM1. The anti-tail of a comet is formed by the dusty component of the tail and may occur as a prospectical effect when the Earth crosses the comet orbital plane (for this comet it was predicted only five hours later). The dusty component of the tail, spread on the comet orbital plane as a fan behind the comet nucleus, when seen under particular geometrical conditions may appear on both sides respect to the comet central condensation.

This CCD image taken at Sormano Observatory on January 23, 2010, shows periodic comet P/2010 A2. The orbital elements of this comet discovered by LINEAR, are similar to a Main Belt Asteroid of the Flora family. Images taken by the Hubble Space telescope at the end of January 2010 has suggested that the cometary appearance could be the product of a collision between asteroids.

Other images of comets

An image of comet 153P/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang) taken with the new 1024x1024 CCD of Sormano Observatory (March 20, 2002, 19:52 UT) with an exposure of 10 s. The object has been identified with comet C/1661 C1.

WISE satellite (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer), a NASA-funded Explorer mission has been placed in a so-called Sun-synchronous orbit. WISE carrying an infrared-sensitive telescope, has discovered new Near-Earth-Asteroids and Comets in the infrared spectrum, so these objects are brights for WISE but faint if observed through optical telescopes. This CCD image taken at Sormano Observatory on March 15, 2010 shows a new Comet discovered by WISE (see MPEC 2010-F01) and named with the provvisional designation C/2010 E3.

Image of the Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) taken at Sormano on March 21, 2013 when its magnitude was about +6.3. This is a non-periodic comet discovered on June 6, 2011 at the Observatory Pan-STARSS 1, Haleakala IAU code F51. The C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) reached the perihelion in March 2013 and some studies concluded that the comet is young.

Image taken at Sormano Observatory on March 21, 2013 of the hyperbolic comet C/2013 A1 at low elevation respect our location. This object was discovered by Robert H. McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory (MPC code E12) on January 3, 2013. Starting from the first orbit computed at Minor Planet Center, has been taken into account that the comet will pass very close to Mars on October 19, 2014 (see our dedicated web page), this very close encounter has been confirmed using all observations and astrometric measures obtained after the discovery. Subsequent calculations performed by Leonid Elenin (Russian astronomer at the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics) and after at JPL NEO office , have suggested a small possibility that this comet could impact the red planet due to the uncertainty of the orbital elements calculated for this hyperbolic comet.

Image taken at Sormano Observatory on November 07, 2013 of the Hyperbolic comet C/2013 A1 (SIDING SPRING)

Animation of the comet C/2013 A1 close to Mars on October 19, 2014. The comet was very low on the horizon in reference to our Observatory. This event has been observed using instruments on-board NASA and ESA satellite in orbit around Mars and rovers on the Red Planet surface. Astrometric measures of the comet were sent to Minor Planet Center in order to improve its orbit.

Image taken on October 19, 2014 at 17:21:02 UT, shows a tail.

Image of comet 2I/Borisov with preliminar designation C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) taken at Sormano Astronomical Observatory on September 13, 2019. This comet was discovered by the amateur observer Gennady Borisov on August 30, 2019 (see MPEC 2019-R106). Additional observations around the world as astrometric positions obtained at Sormano has confirmed the comet's trajectory was hyperbolic. This is the second case of an interstellar object discovered transiting our Solar System. 2I/Borisov will reach the closest distance to the Sun on December 29, 2019, at about two astronomical units.

The effect of a Leonid fireball is clearly seen in this 2 min exposure photograph obtained by Sormano's team on Nov. 17, 1998 at 3:15 UT. The camera was equipped with a 50 mm lens, working at f/1.9 and a Fujiicolor 800 SuperPlus film.

The same morning at 3:30 UT some Leonids meteor trails were recorded in a new 2 min exposure time.

After two years from its launch and one high velocity flyby near the C type asteroid (253) Mathilde on June 27, 1997 the NEAR spacecraft, in January 1998, returned to its home planet briefly for a gravity assist enable to put it on a new path toward the minor planet (433) Eros. Only 12 hours before the minimum distance (about 3600 km above the Earth surface) the spacecraft was imaged at Sormano when still at 317000 km from our planet (a little less than the distance of the Moon!). This 240 second CCD frame, obtained on January 22, 1998 at 19:15:40 UTC (mid exp.) shows the 16 magnitude NEAR probe in rapid motion (16.4 arcsec/min) among faint stars in the costellation of the Taurus.

CCD image taken at Sormano Observatory on May 18, 2003 of the S-IVB third stage from the Saturn V rocket used to launch the Apollo 12 lunar landing mission in November 1969. In June 2003, J002E3 has departed from the Earth-Moon system.

The ESA's spacecraft Rosetta has its main scientific objective in the periodic Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko (for more details see the web page Spacecrafts to Asteroids and Comets). In order to reach its goal, the mission has been designed to perform a few fly-bies with the Earth.

Still at great distance from our planet, Rosetta was imaged on March 1, 2005 on four frames of 180 sec of exposure and combined in the animation at left (the estimate apparent magnitude was about 17).

On March 4, 2005 the European probe crossed the evening sky of Europe from South-East to West progressively increasing its speed. This trailed image of 30 sec of exposure has been taken on UTC 20:38:33 (start time) using the Sormano's 50 cm telescope plus 1Kx1K CCD camera and shows Rosetta near the 5.6 magnitude star 18 Leonis.

More than one hour later, on UTC 21:52:58 (start time), the spacecraft's motion has been computed in 247"/sec. Its trail was still visible in this 4 sec exposure image taken at 14* degree in altitude and three minutes before that Rosetta could disappear below the local western horizon (picture with the same scale that the previous one).

OSIRIS-REX on September 20, 2017 21.20 UT at a distance of about 1036000 km from the Earth

OSIRIS-REX on September 21, 2017 19:45 UT at a distance of about 420000 km from the Earth

CCD images taken at Sormano Observatory shows the spacecraft OSIRIS-REX the days before the Earth Gravity assist planned for the September 22 in order to increase its speed to complete the journey to the asteroid (101955) Bennu for the NASA's asteroid sample return mission in 2018.

Image taken on March 31, 2001 from the Sormano Observatory at 21 UT. The event has been observed for about 1 hour.