Siksika band member discovers comet On Oct. 1 Cardinal, an astronomer and member of the Siksika Band, discovered what turned out to be a comet. Over the days it took to really investigate the comet he kept hoping it would be an asteroid coming close to earth. Finding asteroids is his job and passion, so finding one would have been of great scientific interest to him and his colleagues.
The C/2008 T2 Cardinal comet will be visible next June, when it makes its closest approach to the sun and develops a large coma and tail in the southern hemisphere. Many scientists are working on determining more about the route of the comet. Cardinal encouraged people to come out to observe it at the RAO.
A hunt for asteroids in the night sky has led to an unusual distinction for a University of Calgary researcher -- a comet bearing his name. Rob Cardinal, a researcher at the University of Calgary's Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, was looking for asteroids when something else appeared at the edge of the visual field. The object that appeared over the North Star could only be a comet or an asteroid.
A new magnitude 14 comet C/2008 T2 (Cardinal) was discovered by R.D. Cardinal (Rothney Astrophysical Observatory), on the 1st October, 2008. The preliminary orbital elements of the comet indicate a perihelion passage on the 16th June, 2009, at a distance of 1.2 AU from the Sun.