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IAUC 9009: C/2008 Y3; P/2008 X1 = P/2003 F6

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 9009
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 Y3 (McNAUGHT)
     R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a comet on CCD images
obtained with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring
(discovery observation tabulated below), describing the object as
being strongly condensed with a 12" coma and a broad 15" tail in
p.a. 300 deg; the magnitude was determined to be too bright by
perhaps a magnitude due to involvement with a nearby bright star
(when compared with images taken on 2009 Jan. 1.6 UT, when the
comet had similar appearance).  Following posting on the Minor
Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage, several other CCD astrometrists
have noted the object's cometary appearance.  R. Ligustri (Udine,
Italy) writes that exposures taken remotely with a 0.25-m f/3
reflector near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A., on Jan. 1.4 show a 20" coma but
no nuclear condensation; twelve 120-s co-added images obtained
similarly by E. Guido, G. Sostero, and P. Camilleri on Jan. 1.3
show a compact coma of diameter about 15".  J. E. McGaha (Tucson,
AZ, U.S.A., 0.36-m f/10 reflector, Jan. 1.3) reports that ten
stacked 60-s exposures show a stellar nuclear condensation with a
10"-wide, 74"-long tail in p.a. 309 deg.

     2008 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Dec. 31.64373    8 51 56.50   -21 59 43.3   16.3

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2009-A4.

     T = 2009 Nov.  8.502 TT          Peri. = 343.161
                                      Node  = 245.270   2000.0
     q = 1.90426 AU                   Incl. =  33.146


COMET P/2008 X1 = P/2003 F6 (HILL)
     Additional astrometry of comet P/2008 X1 (cf. IAUC 9001)
showed that this comet is of short period (MPECs 2008-Y19, 2008-Y57).
M. Meyer, Limburg, Germany, has identified images of this comet
with a coma diameter of 8" and a 12" tail in p.a. 240 deg on three
NEAT frames from 2003 Mar. 24, and four LONEOS exposures on 2003
Apr. 1; these data are given the designation P/2003 F6 (see CBET
1637).  Astrometry and revised orbital elements (T = 2002 Aug. 19.1;
for epoch 2009 May 9.0 TT, T = 2009 May 7.771 TT, q = 2.36217 AU, e
= 0.33760, Peri. = 4.393 deg, Node = 117.296 deg, i = 18.873 deg,
equinox 2000.0) appear on MPEC 2008-Y60.

                      (C) Copyright 2009 CBAT
2009 January 1                 (9009)            Daniel W. E. Green

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