Electronic Telegram No. 3329
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 WX_32 (TENAGRA)
     Astrometry of an apparently asteroidal object reported by M. Schwartz and
P. R. Holvorcem (discovery observations tabulated below) from images obtained
with a 0.41-m f/3.75 astrograph at the Tenagra II Observatory near Nogales,
AZ, U.S.A., were assigned the minor-planet designation 2012 WX_32 by the Minor
Planet Center.  Several days later, Holvorcem noted that thirty stacked 60-s
unfiltered exposures taken in 2".3 seeing between Dec. 3.34 and 3.38 UT in
strong moonlight (moon only 18 deg away) show the object to be diffuse with a
coma of diameter 9", and a possible elongation toward p.a. 270 deg.  G. V.
Williams and C. L. Marsden report that stacking of three R-band 300-s CCD
exposures, obtained on Dec. 4.35-4.39 remotely with a 0.50-m reflector at
the iTelescope Mayhill site, show a 10" coma and a short tail in p.a. 285 deg.
Images taken remotely by H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan; 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph at
the RAS Observatory near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.) on Dec. 4.5 show a round coma
of diameter 10".  R. A. Kowalski (Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector) found mag
17.5-17.6 and a straight tail approximately 30" long in p.a. 270 deg on his
exposures from Dec. 4.5.

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Nov. 27.49856    7 21 24.74   +26 54 06.3   18.2
          27.51372    7 21 24.71   +26 54 13.5   18.2
          27.52853    7 21 24.53   +26 54 20.8   18.3
          28.38251    7 21 24.70   +27 01 35.4   18.0
          28.39679    7 21 24.71   +27 01 43.2   18.0
          28.41138    7 21 24.67   +27 01 50.5   18.2

The available astrometry, the following elliptical orbital elements by
G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-X13.

     T = 2013 Feb. 26.5527 TT         Peri. =  39.7594
     e = 0.432818                     Node  =  81.1720  2000.0
     q = 2.420637 AU                  Incl. =  15.6677
       a =  4.267834 AU    n = 0.1117874    P =   8.82 years


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 December 4                  (CBET 3329)              Daniel W. E. Green