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IAUC 9008: P/2008 Y2; P/2008 X4

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 9008
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 P/2008 Y2 (GIBBS)
     A. R. Gibbs reports his discovery of a comet with a narrow
16"-20" tail in p.a. 280-285 deg and a well-condensed coma of size
13".5 x 9" on co-added unfiltered CCD images obtained with the
Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) 0.68-m Schmidt telescope (discovery
observation tabulated below).  E. Beshore (Mt. Lemmon 1.5-m
reflector, 2009 Jan. 1.46-1.48 UT) adds that four co-added 30-s
exposures show a condensed nuclear condensation with a tail about
1' long in p.a. approximately 280 deg.  T. Spahr, Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory, identified this comet with pre-discovery
astrometry in the Minor Planet Center (MPC) archive from 2008 Dec.
1 (Mt. Lemmon) and 21 (CSS).  Following posting on the MPC's 'NEOCP'
webpage, several other CCD astrometrists have noted the object's
cometary appearance.  J. V. Scotti writes that Spacewatch images
taken with the 1.8-m f/2.7 reflector show a 9" coma and a 0'.48
tail in p.a. 284 deg on 2009 Jan. 1.34-1.35.  R. Ligustri (Udine,
Italy) co-added ten 180-s exposures taken remotely with a 0.25-m
f/3 reflector near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A., on Jan. 1.44-1.45 to see a
coma of diameter about 15"; twenty-four 120-s co-added images
obtained similarly by E. Guido, G. Sostero, and P. Camilleri on
Jan. 1.45-1.48 show a compact coma of diameter about 10" and a
narrow 10"-long tail in p.a. 270 deg.

     2008 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Dec. 31.36701   10 04 12.21   +19 49 55.3   18.2

The available astrometry, the following elliptical orbital elements,
and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2009-A3.

     T = 2009 Jan. 22.4628 TT         Peri. = 162.3785
     e = 0.543639                     Node  = 330.8890  2000.0
     q = 1.638444 AU                  Incl. =   7.2768
       a =  3.590233 AU    n = 0.1448839    P =   6.80 years


COMET P/2008 X4 (CHRISTENSEN)
     K. Kadota, Ageo, Japan, has reported astrometry for this comet
(cf. IAUC 9005) from CCD images obtained with a 0.25-m f/5
reflector on 2008 Dec. 14.35 (at low altitude in very bright
twilight), 30.9, and 31.9 UT, for which he provided total
magnitudes 11, 10.6, and 10.5, respectively.  The astrometry for
Dec. 30 and 31, together with improved orbital elements by B. G.
Marsden and an ephemeris, appear on MPEC 2009-A1.

                      (C) Copyright 2009 CBAT
2009 January 1                 (9008)            Daniel W. E. Green

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