Electronic Telegram No. 3883
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/2014 K3 = P/2012 Y12 (SOHO)
     Michal Kusiak, Astronomical Observatory, Jagiellonian University, reports
that Zhijian Xu of China found an apparent comet on images taken by the LASCO
C2 camera on the SOHO spacecraft.  Kusiak suggested that it may be a return of
comet C/2012 Y12 (cf. IAUC 9039; MPECs 2009-F17, 2012-B23), and he notes the
similarity of that object with the orbit of the Southern Delta Aquarid meteor
shower, which is associated with the 96P/Machholz and Kracht near-sun comet
groups.  Karl Battams, Naval Research Laboratory, has forwarded reduced
astrometric measurements by his student, Todd Kozlowski; Battams adds that the
object was a very small, stellar object, probably around mag 7.5 and really
quite consistent in brightness; no coma or tail was visible, and it was only
seen in LASCO C2 images.
     The astrometry, along with the following linked orbital elements by G. V.
Williams (from 67 observations spanning 2008 Dec. 21-2014 May 17) and the
residuals for the poor-scale SOHO observations, appear on MPEC 2014-K37.

                    Epoch = 2009 Jan.  9.0 TT
     T = 2008 Dec. 22.5633 TT         Peri. = 144.0307
     e = 0.977946                     Node  = 310.1367  2000.0
     q = 0.067923 AU                  Incl. =  23.4080
       a =  3.079873 AU    n = 0.1823496    P =   5.40 years

                    Epoch = 2014 May  23.0 TT
     T = 2014 May  17.8858 TT         Peri. = 144.3090
     e = 0.978182                     Node  = 309.8454  2000.0
     q = 0.067106 AU                  Incl. =  23.5810
       a =  3.075682 AU    n = 0.1827225    P =   5.39 years


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 May 24                      (CBET 3883)              Daniel W. E. Green