Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams

Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams -- Image credits

IAUC 9025: COMET C/2007 N3 (LULIN); C/2008 W1, C/2009 A1

The following International Astronomical Union Circular may be linked-to from your own Web pages, but must not otherwise be redistributed (see these notes on the conditions under which circulars are made available on our WWW site).

Read IAUC 9024 SEARCH Read IAUC 9026

View IAUC 9025 in .dvi, .ps or .PDF format.
IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 9025
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/2007 N3 (LULIN)
     M. Knight and D. Schleicher, Lowell Observatory, obtained and
analyzed extensive CN narrowband images of comet C/2007 N3 on
eleven nights between Jan. 30 and Mar. 2, along with CN snapshots
on five additional nights, using the Hall 1.1-m telescope at Lowell
Observatory.  Following the removal of median radial profiles, two
side-on gas jets are seen centered at position angles near 110 deg
and 290 deg, with each showing a cork-screw morphology.  Intervals
between fifteen pairs of matching CN images from various rotational
cycles, coupled with the spacing and the outward motion of the
features, imply a nucleus rotation period of 42.0 +/- 0.5 hr.
Preliminary modeling yields an obliquity of the rotation axis near
95 deg and source locations within 30 deg of each pole.


COMETS C/2008 W1 AND C/2009 A1 (STEREO)
     Further to IAUCs 8955 and 9005, K. Battams has measured (and
B. G. Marsden has reduced) astrometry for two additional near-sun
presumed comets that were found on STEREO website images by A.
Watson.  C/2008 W1, which was observed only by the 'HI1-B'
instrument (onboard STEREO-B), was a Kreutz sungrazer.  C/2008 W1
peaked at magnitude perhaps 9-10; the SOHO LASCO instrument was not
operational when this object was found.  C/2009 A1, which was
detected by the HI1 instruments on both STEREO-A and STEREO-B,
belongs to no known group; D. Chestnov and R. Kracht aided in the
finding of images of this object in HI1-B images after it was
initially found in HI1-A images.  Battams notes that C/2009 A1 was
very faint, peaking around mag 13 (with 14 being the limiting
magnitude of the HI-1 instruments), and it was small and seemingly
diffuse.  The parabolic orbital elements below for C/2009 A1 by
Marsden were published on MPC 65057.

 Comet        2008 UT       R.A.(2000)Decl.   Inst.  F    MPEC
 C/2008 W1    Nov. 18.739   12 28.7  - 7 38   H1B    AW   2009-B10

 Comet        2009 UT       R.A.(2000)Decl.   Inst.  F    MPEC
 C/2009 A1    Jan. 10.017   22 28.1  - 3 51   H1A    AW   2009-B10

     T = 2009 Jan. 11.785 TT          Peri. = 102.326
                                      Node  = 340.014   2000.0
     q = 0.12713 AU                   Incl. =  51.472

                      (C) Copyright 2009 CBAT
2009 March 5                   (9025)            Daniel W. E. Green

Read IAUC 9024 SEARCH Read IAUC 9026

View IAUC 9025 in .dvi, .ps or .PDF format.

Our Web policy. Index to the CBAT/MPC/ICQ pages.

Valid HTML 4.01!