Russian astronomer and researcher at the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics Leonid Elenin has discovered a new comet with a telescope in Australia and the automated observatory remote control software.

"The C/2017 A3 [Elenin] was discovered in the southern sky at the boundary of the Carina and Puppis constellations during a planned observation using an Australian telescope of the ISON network. It has an 18-star magnitude and is accessible for amateur telescopes," the scientist told TASS.

For Elenin, who is a record holder among Russian astronomers by the number of discovered comets, this is the sixth comet and the first one found with the software developed by the scientist for remote control of observatories.

"The telescope discovered the comet on January 5. On the same day, I saw an image and transferred information to the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams and the Minor Planet Center at Harvard. The comet was designated as C/2017 A3 [Elenin]. Other astronomers have joined the effort to observe it and independent confirmations of the discovery have been received as of today by the observatories located in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Australia," the astronomer said.