Keywords: C1998 K1 - C1998 M2 (2MASS).jpg en Atlas Images each covering 4 8´ × 4 8´ on the sky of the comets C/1998 K1 Mueller and C/1998 M2 LINEAR Occasionally 2MASS serendipitously encountered solar system bodies during its routine operations see the discussion of the known asteroid comet planet and satellite associations in the Second Incremental Data Release As reported in IAU Circular No 7500 M Sykes R Cutri J Fowler D Tholen M Skrutskie found prediscovery apparitions of these two comets before their optical discoveries in 2MASS Atlas Images acquired at the Northern Facility on Mount Hopkins and Southern Facility on Cerro Tololo respectively Comet C/1998 K1 was seen on 1998 April 4 316 UT at Ks 14 7 J-H 0 3 and H-Ks 0 2 and on May 10 223 at Ks 14 9 J-H 0 5 and H-Ks 0 0 Comet C/1998 M2 was seen on May 4 404 at Ks 14 3 J-H 0 5 and H-Ks 0 0 Both comets showed some coma but with no obvious tail http //www ipac caltech edu/2mass/gallery/images_ss html 2MASS Atlas Image Gallery Solar System Objects Two Micron All Sky Survey 2MASS a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation 2MASS Atlas image Comets 2MASS images |