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IAUC 9145: C/2010 J2; P/2010 H4

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 9145
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 J2 (McNAUGHT)
     R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a comet (discovery
observation tabulated below) on CCD images taken with the 0.5-m
Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring, noting the object to be
slightly diffuse with a circular coma of diameter about 10" and no
tail.  After posting on the Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage,
other CCD astrometrists have commented on the object's cometary
appearance.  S. Foglia writes that thirty stacked 60-s unfiltered
exposures taken by R. Holmes (Ashmore, IL, U.S.A.) with a 0.61-m
telescope on May 9.4 UT show a diffuse coma nearly 10" in diameter;
Foglia adds that eight stacked 120-s images taken by P. Concari, G.
Galli, M. Tombelli, and himself remotely with a 0.18-m reflector
located at the Tzec Maun Observatory (Moorook, Australia) on May
9.7 also show a diffuse coma of size about 10".  R-band frames
taken by W. H. Ryan and E. V. Ryan with the Magdalena Ridge
Observatory 2.4-m reflector on May 9.44-9.46 show a coma with a
distinct tail in p.a. about 190 deg.  H. Sato (Ota-ku, Tokyo, Japan)
finds a condensed coma 10" in diameter on images taken remotely on
May 9.45 with a 0.25-m reflector at the RAS Observatory, Mayhill,
NM, U.S.A.  A. C. Gilmore and P. M. Kilmartin obtained 120-s
exposures on May 9.6 with the Mt. John 1.0-m f/7.7 reflector that
show a starlike head and a 15" tail in p.a. 180 deg.  R. Ligustri
(Talmassons, Udine, Italy; remotely using a 0.40-m f/9 reflector of
the RAS Observatory, Moorook, on May 9.8) reports that eight
stacked 180-s exposures show a 15" coma elongated toward p.a. 195
deg.

     2010 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     May   8.75196   22 07 37.15   -12 34 34.4   17.5   McNaught

The available astrometry, the following very preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2010-J59.

     T = 2010 Apr.  6.273 TT          Peri. = 351.698
                                      Node  = 312.070   2000.0
     q = 3.42754 AU                   Incl. = 124.034


COMET P/2010 H4 (SCOTTI)
     Additional astrometry shows that this comet (cf. IAUC 9139) is
of short period; elliptical orbital elements from MPEC 2010-J52:  T
= 2010 June 27.801 TT, q = 4.82153 AU, e = 0.27202, Peri. = 180.593
deg, Node = 44.851 deg, i = 2.313 deg (equinox 2000.0), P = 17.05
years.

                      (C) Copyright 2010 CBAT
2010 May 9                     (9145)            Daniel W. E. Green

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