Electronic Telegram No. 3348
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 C/2012 Y1 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered by the LINEAR survey
(discovery observations tabulated below), and posted at the Minor Planet
Center's NEOCP webpage, has been reported to show cometary appearance by
numerous CCD astrometrists elsewhere.  L. Buzzi (Varese, Italy; 0.38-m f/6.8
reflector; Dec. 19.7 UT) writes that stacked images show a soft appearance
with a 8" coma of red mag 18.6 and a hint of a tail in p.a. about 335 deg.
Buzzi adds that five stacked 180-s images taken on Dec. 21.5 by R. Holmes,
S. Foglia, T. Vorobjov, and himself with the 2.0-m f/10 "Faulkes Telescope
South" at Siding Spring show a compact coma 3" wide surrounded by a faint
outer coma 8" wide but with no clear tail.  H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan; remotely
with a 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph at the iTelescope Observatory near Mayhill,
NM, U.S.A.; Dec. 21.4) finds a coma of size 5" x 10" elongated toward p.a.
335 degrees.  William H. Ryan (Magdalena Ridge Observatory, 2.4-m f/8.9
reflector; Dec. 21.2) found a distinct coma of mag 18.1-18.3 and a faint hint
of a tail at p.a. about 315 deg in his R-band images.

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Dec. 18.26161    5 47 00.31   -13 28 43.3   19.1
          18.27477    5 47 00.05   -13 28 47.6   19.8
          18.28797    5 46 59.90   -13 28 52.7   19.3
          18.30164    5 46 59.72   -13 28 59.0   19.6
          18.31529    5 46 59.48   -13 29 03.9   19.2

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-Y18.

     T = 2012 Dec.  8.5957 TT         Peri. = 242.5644
                                      Node  = 201.0807  2000.0
     q = 2.120286 AU                  Incl. =  22.6275


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 December 21                 (CBET 3348)              Daniel W. E. Green