Circular No. 8900

Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION

Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.

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COMET P/2007 W2 (LINEAR) L. Buzzi and F. Luppi report their recovery of P/2000 B3 (cf. IAUC

7356) on CCD frames taken with a 0.60-m f/4.64 reflector at Varese, Italy (astrometry tabulated below); stacked images totalling 25 min of exposure show a 8′′ condensed coma with a tail ≈ 10′′ long in p.a. 240^{o}.

2007 UT  α_{2000}  δ_{2000}  Mag.
Nov. 17.06763  5^{h}52^{m}34.^{s}70  +43^{o}16′00′′.7
17.12336  5 52 35.06  +43 16 32.4  19.5
26.98525  5 52 05.65  +44 43 56.4
27.03909  5 52 04.65  +44 44 23.3  18.6

The indicated correction to the prediction on MPC 54167 is ΔT = +0.16 day. The following orbital elements are by B. G. Marsden from 91 observations, 2000–2007 (mean residual 0′′.5):

Epoch = 2000 Feb. 26.0 TT

T = 2000 Feb. 14.1600 TT  ω = 130.^{o}5069
e = 0.575215  Ω = 352.1471 }2000.0
q = 1.700254 AU  i = 11.1263

a = 4.002627 AU n^{o} = 0.1230797 P = 8.008 years Epoch = 2008 Feb. 24.0 TT

T = 2008 Feb. 26.1914 TT  ω = 130.^{o}6410
e = 0.574210  Ω = 352.0642 }2000.0
q = 1.708753 AU  i = 11.1181

a = 4.013132 AU n^{o} = 0.1225967 P = 8.039 years This ephemeris uses H_{10} = 15.5:

2007/8 α_{2000}  δ_{2000}  Δ  r  ϵ  β  Mag.
Nov.26 5^{h}52.^{m}31 +44^{o}35.^{′}8 1.026 1.932 147.^{o}5 15.^{o}9 18.4
Dec. 6 5 48.39 +45 49.0 0.956 1.890 153.5 13.4 18.2
16 5 41.43 +46 33.7 0.906 1.851 156.6 12.2 18.0
26 5 33.38 +46 40.5 0.876 1.816 155.2 13.1 17.8
Jan. 5 5 26.66 +46 06.7 0.865 1.785 149.9 16.0 17.7
15 5 23.57 +44 57.4 0.873 1.759 142.8 19.8 17.7
25 5 25.50 +43 23.2 0.896 1.739 135.2 23.5 17.7
Feb. 4 5 32.66 +41 34.1 0.933 1.723 127.8 26.9 17.7
14 5 44.62 +39 37.2 0.982 1.713 120.9 29.6 17.8
2007 November 27  \begin{matrix}c \\ ◯ \end{matrix} Copyright 2007 CBAT  Daniel W. E. Green