An amateur astronomer from Switzerland has discovered a new comet. Michel Ory spotted the comet from the Jura Observatory in Vicques, the International Astronomical Union announced on Saturday. He tracked its location over several nights. It has been identified as a periodic comet, which has orbital periods of less than 200 years, and will be named P/2008 Q2 Ory.
Comet P/2008 Q2 (Ory) was discovered by Michel Ory (Switzerland) on CCD images obtained with the Bernard Comte 0.61m f/3.9 telescope in Vicques. The preliminary orbital elements of the comet indicate a perihelion passage on the 23rd October, 2008, at a distance of 1.3 AU from the Sun, and a 5.96 years period. MPEC 2008-Q51 Ephemeris