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IAUC 9003: COMET C/2008 X3 (LINEAR); C/2008 P2-P6, C/2008 Q5

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                                                  Circular No. 9003
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only)


COMET C/2008 X3 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered by the LINEAR
survey (and posted on the Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage;
discovery observation tabulated below) has been reported by CCD
astrometrists elsewhere to show cometary appearance.  R. A.
Kowalski (Mt. Lemmon 1.5-m reflector) writes that four co-added
30-s CCD exposures taken on Dec. 5.5 UT in good seeing show a coma
of diameter approximately 15' and a tail approximately 30" long in
p.a. 300 deg.  G. Hug (Scranton, KS, U.S.A., 0.56-m reflector)
notes the object to be an "obvious comet" with a nebulous
extension in p.a. about 330 deg on his images around the same time.

     2008 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Dec.  4.44689   12 20 41.89   + 8 46 23.5   18.4

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2008-X48.

     T = 2008 Nov. 19.300 TT          Peri. = 161.971
                                      Node  = 338.258   2000.0
     q = 2.11036 AU                   Incl. =  71.042


COMETS C/2008 P2-P6 AND C/2008 Q5 (SOHO)
     Further to IAUC 9001, additional Kreutz sungrazers have been
found on SOHO website images.  C/2008 P2 was small and stellar in
appearance (mag about 6.5).  C/2008 P3 was small and stellar in
appearance in C3 images (mag about 6.5), and very diffuse, very
faint, and elongated in C2 images.  C/2008 P4 was small and stellar
in appearance (mag about 7).  C/2008 P5 was small (mag about 6.5)
with a short tail in C3 images, and very diffuse, very faint, and
elongated in C2 images.  C/2008 P6 (found by Z. Xu = ZX) was
stellar in appearance (mag about 7).  C/2008 Q5 was tiny, very
faint (mag about 7-7.5), and stellar in appearance.

 Comet       2008 UT       R.A.(2000)Decl.   Inst.  F    MPEC
 C/2008 P2   Aug.  1.388    8 25.9  +15 40   C3     HS   2008-T11
 C/2008 P3   Aug.  6.196    8 43.2  +14 23   C3/2   MK   2008-T11
 C/2008 P4   Aug.  8.054    8 53.4  +14 53   C3     MK   2008-T11
 C/2008 P5   Aug.  9.654    8 57.7  +13 18   C3/2   TH   2008-T11
 C/2008 P6   Aug. 14.446    9 19.8  +13 12   C3     ZX   2008-T11
 C/2008 Q5   Aug. 26.763   10 06.2  + 9 10   C3     JR   2008-X24

                      (C) Copyright 2008 CBAT
2008 December 6                (9003)            Daniel W. E. Green

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