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IAUC 9063: C/2009 P2; C/2006 W3

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 9063
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/2009 P2 (BOATTINI)
     A. Boattini reports his discovery of a strongly condensed
comet with a 8" coma and no tail on four co-added 30-s CCD
exposures taken with the Catalina 0.68-m Schmidt telescope
(discovery observation tabulated below).  Following posting on the
Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage, other CCD astrometrists have
also commented on the object's slight cometary appearance.  P.
Birtwhistle (Great Shefford, Berkshire, England, 0.40-m reflector,
Aug. 15.9 UT) finds the object to be distinctly diffuse with
diameter 9", possibly elongated east-west (though with no obvious
tail); on Aug. 18.0, he found it to be slightly softer than the
nearby stellar images (maximum dimensions of 11" x 9", elongated
east-west, with a star of similar brightness having size
approximately 6" x 6").  S. Foglia reports that fifteen stacked
60-s images obtained by R. Holmes (Charleston, IL, USA, 0.61-m
astrograph, Aug. 16.2) show the comet to be slightly elongated
(size 6" x 4") in p.a. 222 deg.  R. Ligustri (Talmassons, Udine,
Italy, 0.25-m reflector, Aug. 16.3) reports that fifteen 180-s
exposures show the object to have a slightly diffuse coma.  F.
Fratev (Sofia, Bulgaria, 0.35-m reflector, Aug. 18.0) writes that
thirty stacked 40-s unfiltered exposures show a coma nearly 15" in
diameter.  E. Guido (Castellammare di Stabia, Italy) reports that
G. Sostero and he co-added twenty 120-sunfiltered exposures
obtained remotely with a 0.25-m reflector near Mayhill, NM, USA,
on Aug. 18.3, revealing an extremely compact coma about 8" in
diameter, slightly elongated toward the southwest.

     2009 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Aug. 15.44097   23 56 33.82   +17 28 07.8   19.2   Boattini

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic
orbital elements by B. G. Marsden, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC
2009-Q14.

     T = 2010 July 24.182 TT          Peri. =  92.679
                                      Node  =  61.741   2000.0
     q = 6.13366 AU                   Incl. = 163.699


COMET C/2006 W3 (CHRISTENSEN)
     Visual total-magnitude estimates by J. J. Gonzalez, Leon,
Spain (0.20-m reflector unless otherwise noted):  Mar. 3.23 UT,
9.6; Apr. 20.17, 9.2; May 2.17, 8.9; June 1.08, 9.0; July 3.08,
8.6; 19.08, 8.6; 25.00, 8.3 (10x50 binoculars); Aug. 11.90, 8.0
(10x50 binoculars).

                      (C) Copyright 2009 CBAT
2009 August 18                 (9063)            Daniel W. E. Green

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