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IAUC 9126: COMET C/2010 E3 (WISE); COMET P/2010 E4 (LINEAR)

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 9126
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 E3 (WISE)
     An apparently asteroidal object found on WISE satellite images
(discovery observation tabulated below), and posted on the Minor
Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage, has been found to be diffuse with
a faint tail in p.a. about 315 deg on CCD images taken with the
Magdalena Ridge Observatory 2.4-m f/8.9 reflector by W. H. Ryan
and E. V. Ryan on Mar. 13.3 and 14.1 UT, measuring the object's red
magnitude to be 20.3 +/- 0.4.  Upon inquiry by the Central Bureau,
A. Mainzer (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) notes notes an asymmetric
coma of size about 25" in 12- and 22-micron stacked WISE images.

     2010 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Observer
     Mar.  5.09910    4 42 43.55   +66 52 38.1   WISE

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2010-F01.

     T = 2010 Apr.  4.326 TT          Peri. =  49.974
                                      Node  = 117.328   2000.0
     q = 2.27420 AU                   Incl. =  96.480


COMET P/2010 E4 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered in 2002 by the
LINEAR survey (discovery observation tabulated below), and
designated 2002 CF_140 on MPS 50320, has been found by R. A.
Kowalski to show cometary appearance on Mount Lemmon 1.5-m
reflector CCD images (identified at the Minor Planet Center; first
observation tabulated below) taken in poor seeing during Mar.
15.40-15.46 UT.  Four 75-s exposures show a slightly condensed
round coma about 15" in size, slightly elongated toward p.a. 275
deg, which is the direction of a broad, straight tail 30" long.

  Date      UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
  2002 Feb.  8.31900    9 46 37.48   + 2 53 48.1   18.6   LINEAR
  2010 Mar. 15.40060   13 46 43.68   - 5 53 21.0   19.0   Kowalski

The orbit on MPO 30668 requires a correction of Delta(T) = -0.8 day.
The new astrometry (including 2010 Mar. 11 observations from La
Sagra), new elliptical orbital elements by B. G. Marsden (epoch
2010 Jan. 4.0 TT, T = 2009 Dec. 23.4780 TT, q = 2.861297 AU, e =
0.250940, Peri. = 358.3346 deg, Node = 179.7271 deg, i = 11.5150
deg, equinox 2000.0, P = 7.47 years), and an ephemeris appear on
MPEC 2010-F02.

                      (C) Copyright 2010 CBAT
2010 March 15                  (9126)            Daniel W. E. Green

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