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IAUC 9152: P/2010 L2 = 2002 LN_13

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 9152
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 P/2010 L2 = 2002 LN_13 (LINEAR)
     A. Mainzer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reports the finding of
a comet on 12- and 22-micron images taken by the WISE spacecraft
(discovery astrometry tabulated below), which the WISE team quickly
identified to be 2002 LN_13, an apparently asteroidal object
discovered by the LINEAR project (2002 discovery observation also
tabulated below from MPS 57859) whose orbit was good enough to
place the object within about 15" of the current position.  Mainzer
notes that 2002 LN_13 is similar in brightness at 12 microns to
that of comet 233P/2009 WJ_50 on 2010 Feb. 6 (cf. IAUC 9117), when
that comet's optical total magnitude was around 20-22; she adds
that 2002 LN_13 is fainter but clearly detected at 22 microns.  The
nuclear condensation is very small in the WISE images, about 9" in
diameter, but the tail extends about 100" toward the west-southwest.
Following a request to observe this object by the WISE team, R. S.
McMillan (University of Arizona) reports that CCD images taken with
the Spacewatch 1.8-m f/2.7 reflector (bandpass 500-900 nm) in good
seeing on June 15.4 UT show negligible coma, a nuclear condensation
that is no more than 1" wider than star images (with total mag
20.0-20.6), and a tail at least 1'.5 long and 6 deg wide toward p.a.
246 deg.

     2002 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     June  6.23078   15 37 06.70   -23 14 31.9   18.7   LINEAR

     2010 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Observer
     June 10.56835   22 53 07.10   +11 08 58.1   WISE

The new astrometry and the following elliptical orbital elements by
B. G. Marsden linking the two apparitions, together with residuals
and an ephemeris, appear on MPEC 2010-L93.

                    Epoch = 2002 Sept. 3.0 TT
     T = 2002 Sept.10.7540 TT         Peri. =  20.4622
     e = 0.351584                     Node  = 252.4941  2000.0
     q = 2.424945 AU                  Incl. =  16.1444
       a =  3.739801 AU    n = 0.1362798    P =   7.23 years

                    Epoch = 2009 Nov. 25.0 TT
     T = 2009 Dec.  2.7231 TT         Peri. =  20.6322
     e = 0.352754                     Node  = 252.4353  2000.0
     q = 2.415741 AU                  Incl. =  16.1539
       a =  3.732338 AU    n = 0.1366887    P =   7.21 years

                      (C) Copyright 2010 CBAT
2010 June 15                   (9152)            Daniel W. E. Green

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