Electronic Telegram No. 3142
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET P/2012 K9 (GIBBS)
     H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan) reports the recovery of comet P/2006 Y2 (cf. IAUCs
8787, 8796) on images taken remotely at the RAS Observatory near Mayhill, NM,
U.S.A. (astrometry tabulated below; the May 17 and June 16 data were obtained
with a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph, and the remaining data were obtained with a
0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph).  No coma was obvious on twelve stacked 60-s
exposures taken on May 17 but a 10" coma with no tail was present on eleven
60-s stacked images from June 13; the 0.43-m telescope total V-band magnitudes
were measured within a circular aperture of radius 5".7.  Nine stacked 60-s
images from May 16 show a faint coma of size 8"; the same revealed a 10" coma
on June 14, and the total V-band magnitudes from the 0.51-m telescope were
measured within a circular aperture of radius 4".9.

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     May  16.14203    6 48 44.10   +27 10 26.4          Sato
          16.14484    6 48 44.69   +27 10 27.3            "
          16.14765    6 48 45.30   +27 10 27.4   20.1     "
          17.14183    6 52 43.73   +27 12 03.8            "
          17.14479    6 52 44.46   +27 12 04.4            "
          17.14775    6 52 45.20   +27 12 04.7   20.0     "
     June 13.14586    8 42 04.29   +25 10 06.1            "
          13.15120    8 42 05.63   +25 10 02.9   19.9     "
          14.14832    8 46 03.72   +24 59 36.5            "
          14.15113    8 46 04.34   +24 59 34.0            "
          14.15394    8 46 05.13   +24 59 33.0   20.0     "

The indicated correction to the prediction by S. Nakano in the International
Comet Quarterly's 2011/2012 Comet Handbook is Delta(T) = +0.05 day.  The
following linked orbital elements by G. V. Williams are from 131 observations
spanning 2006 Nov. 10-2012 June 14 (mean residual 0".6); they appear,
together with residuals and an ephemeris, on MPEC 2012-L44.

                    Epoch = 2012 June  2.0 TT
     T = 2012 May  20.86037 TT        Peri. =  34.48859
     e = 0.5872476                    Node  = 105.87684 2000.0
     q = 1.2633710 AU                 Incl. =  11.53462
       a =  3.0608445 AU   n = 0.18405270   P =   5.36 years


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 June 15                     (CBET 3142)              Daniel W. E. Green