Circular No. 8402

Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION

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COMET C/2004 R2 (ASAS) G. Pojmanski, Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory, reports

the discovery by the ‘All Sky Automated Survey’ (ASAS) of a comet on CCD V images taken on Sept. 3.40 UT with the ASAS-3V instrument (a 200-mm-f.l., 70-mm-aperture, f/2.8 telephoto lens; pixel size 14′′.8) at Las Campanas (measurements of ASAS-3V images given below). A. Hale (Cloudcroft, NM, 0.20-m reflector) reports total visual mag 10.9 and coma diameter 2′.5 (diffuse without condensation) on Sept. 9.47.

2004 UT  α_{2000}  δ_{2000}  Mag.
Sept.1.387  6^{h}34^{m}21^{s}  −18^{o}49.^{′}6  12.2
3.400  6 49 25  −19 35.1  11.9
8.350  7 31 21  −21 15.4
8.370  7 31 32  −21 15.7
8.393  7 31 43  −21 16.3
8.401  7 31 47  −21 16.1  11.5
8.411  7 31 54  −21 16.5  11.4
8.414  7 31 55  −21 16.3  11.4

Additional astrometry and the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements appear on MPEC 2004-R48; ephemeris H = 11.5, n = 3.

T = 2004 Oct. 7.931 TT  ω = 5.^{o}228
Ω = 182.395 }2000.0
q = 0.11376 AU  i = 63.109
2004TT α_{2000}  δ_{2000}  Δ  r  ϵ  β  Mag.
Sept. 10 7^{h}46.^{m}83 −21^{o}42.^{′}2 0.883 0.913 57.^{o}3 68.^{o}2 10.9
12 8 06.60 −22 07.7 0.866 0.865 54.4 71.1 10.7
14 8 27.30 −22 23.7 0.853 0.815 51.2 74.1 10.5
16 8 48.76 −22 28.3 0.846 0.765 47.8 77.1 10.3
18 9 10.76 −22 20.1 0.844 0.713 44.3 79.9 10.0
20 9 33.04 −21 57.7 0.847 0.659 40.6 82.6  9.8
22 9 55.33 −21 20.5 0.856 0.603 36.8 85.0  9.5
24 10 17.40 −20 28.3 0.871 0.546 32.9 87.0  9.2
26 10 39.07 −19 20.8 0.891 0.486 29.0 88.3  8.9
28 11 00.25 −17 57.9 0.919 0.424 25.0 88.6  8.5
30 11 20.98 −16 18.5 0.952 0.358 20.9 87.3  8.0
Oct. 2 11 41.50 −14 20.1 0.992 0.289 16.7 83.4  7.4
2004 September 9  \begin{matrix}c \\ ◯ \end{matrix} Copyright 2004 CBAT  Daniel W. E. Green