Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams

IAUC 9124: COMET C/2010 E1 (GARRADD)

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                                                  Circular No. 9124
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  D. W. E. Green, Room 209; Department of
 Earth and Planetary Sciences; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
CBAT@IAU.ORG; CBATIAU@EPS.HARVARD.EDU
URL http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304


COMET C/2010 E1 (GARRADD)
     G. J. Garradd reports his discovery of a comet on CCD images
taken with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring
(discovery observation tabulated below), the object described as
being more diffuse than nearby stars with a coma diameter of about
15" and a possible faint tail about 30" long in p.a. 250 deg on a
40-s exposure.  After posting on the Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP'
webpage, numerous other CCD astrometrists have commented on the
object's cometary appearance.  S. Foglia writes that thirty stacked
60-s exposures taken by R. Holmes (Ashmore, IL, U.S.A.) with a
0.81-m reflector on Mar. 12.13-12.14 UT show a coma of diameter
8"-10" with a 60" tail in p.a. 230 deg.  Foglia adds that eight
stacked 180-s exposures taken remotely by P. Concari, G. Galli, M.
Tombelli, and himself with a 0.18-m reflector at the Tzec Maun
Observatory (Moorook, Australia) on Mar. 12.44-12.46 also show a
10" coma.  H. Sato (Ota-ku, Tokyo, Japan; remotely using a 0.25-m
reflector at the RAS Observatory, Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.; Mar. 12.14-
12.15) measured a 30" coma with a faint tail 45" long toward p.a.
230 deg.  E. Guido (Castellammare di Stabia, Italy) writes that he
and G. Sostero also obtained images remotely with a 0.25-m
reflector at the RAS Observatory near Mayhill, noting that fifteen
co-added 120-s unfiltered exposures from Mar. 12.2 show a diffuse
coma nearly 10" in diameter with a broad fan tail about 20" long in
p.a. 240 deg.  L. Elenin reports that six stacked 60-s unfiltered
CCD exposures taken remotely with a 0.36-m astrograph at the Tzec
Maun Observatory on Mar. 12.32 show a diffuse coma of size 0'.25-
0'.3.  P. M. Kilmartin measured a 1' tail in p.a. 230 deg on
exposures taken by A. C. Gilmore and herself with the Mt. John 1.0-m
reflector in poor seeing on Mar. 12.4.  R. Ligustri (Talmassons,
Udine, Italy) writes that twenty 60-s exposures taken remotely with
a 0.40-m reflector at the RAS Observatory near Moorook on Mar. 12.7
show a coma of size 15" with a faint tail 15" long in p.a. 235 deg.

     2010 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Mar. 11.57146    9 31 37.23   -23 35 45.1   17.4   Garradd

The available astrometry, the following very preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2010-E59.

     T = 2009 Oct. 24.604 TT          Peri. = 291.168
                                      Node  = 169.281   2000.0
     q = 2.56144 AU                   Incl. =  71.721

                      (C) Copyright 2010 CBAT
2010 March 12                  (9124)            Daniel W. E. Green

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