Electronic Telegram No. 4213
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Mailing address:  Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org)
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Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET C/2015 X2 (CATALINA)
     An apparently asteroidal object reported to the Minor Planet Center on
CCD images taken by E. J. Christensen and G. J. Leonard with the Catalina
0.68-m Schmidt telescope (discovery observations tabulated below) has been
found to show cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere after the
object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP and PCCP webpages.

     2015 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Dec.  2.47232   11 22 55.69   +49 39 47.1   19.5   Christensen
           2.47835   11 22 57.06   +49 40 01.4   20.0     "
           2.48437   11 22 58.65   +49 40 15.8   19.9     "
           2.49040   11 23 00.09   +49 40 25.6   19.8     "
           2.51897   11 23 07.34   +49 41 36.6   19.6     "
           2.52023   11 23 07.45   +49 41 38.1   19.6     "
           2.52149   11 23 08.01   +49 41 40.6            "

G. Hug (Scranton, KS, U.S.A.) writes that his CCD images taken on Dec. 3.4
UT with a 0.56-m reflector show a possible short, bright tail extending
for about 10"-15" in p.a. 285 deg, while additional images taken on Dec.
4.42-4.48 show a faint extension 10" long in p.a. about 280 deg.  V-band
images taken by W. H. Ryan and E. V. Ryan with the Magdalena Ridge
Observatory 2.4-m f/8.9 reflector on Dec. 3.44-3.46 show a faint, wide
tail in p.a. about 315 deg.  H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan, notes that twentry-four
45-s stacked exposures taken on Dec. 4.5 with an iTelescope 0.43-m f/6.8
astrograph (+ luminance filter) near Mayhill, NM, USA, show a moderately
consensed coma 8" in diameter with no tail; the w-band magnitude was 20.6
as measured within a circular aperture of radius 5".7.  J.-F. Soulier
obtained unfiltered images with a 0.30-m f/3.8 Newtonian reflector at
Maisoncelles, France, on Dec. 5.0 that show a 12" coma and a possible tail
21" long in p.a. 295 deg; he measured red mag 19.4-19.6 in a 9".7-radius
aperture.
     The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2015-X59.

     T = 2015 Dec. 19.0745 TT         Peri. =  41.4018
                                      Node  = 101.8020  2000.0
     q = 1.931690 AU                  Incl. =  72.9666


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

                         (C) Copyright 2015 CBAT
2015 December 6                  (CBET 4213)              Daniel W. E. Green